Her Demon, His Angel
by drunkdragon
Summary: A mission gone wrong leaves Hinata alone. But five years can change a lot of things written in stone. SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, eventual NaruHina. Bits and pieces of humor tossed in. AU and OOC
1. Going Out With A Bang

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Hey, this is drunkdragon12888, and here is my first Naruto fic. Please read and review, keeping in mind that I do not own Naruto in any fashion.

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Chapter 1: Going out With a Bang

Two boys and a girl were seen flying through the trees. Jumping from limb to limb, they approached their target. The one in the front had onyx eyes with hair to match. He wore a black shirt with white pants and had bandaged legs. Behind him followed by a pink haired girl. She had emerald eyes, an unusually large forehead, and wore a red dress. Holding up the rear was a boy with spiky blonde hair. His eyes were of an enchanting sapphire and he wore a bright orange jacket with matching pants. But his clothing wasn't the feature that stood out. No, it was the whisker-like marks on his face. And his blue eyes, his piercing blue eyes.

"Naruto, can you see anyone behind us?" The leader asked.

"Nope, no one's behind us Sasuke."

"Alright, I think we can stop for now." Sasuke said as he stopped at a tree branch. They all stopped next to him and the girl took out a walkie-talkie.

"We have left the building. You guys ready to leave?" She spoke into it. She heard a voice on the other end.

"We hear you, Sakura. We got our part of the job done. Neji's team and Kiba's team are also ready to leave." Sakura smiled at the voice on the other end. It was her friend and ex-rival for Sasuke, Ino.

"Then let's go." Sakura looked at the target they were about to hit. It was a Sound complex. Naruto, on the other hand, had thought back to the mission briefing.

Flashback

The four teams were sitting in Tsunade's office. It was about eight a.m. in the morning. Naruto was in a corner nodding off. Thoughts were running through his head. _'Man, this better be worth it. If this is another lazy D-rank mission, I am out of here.'_ He looked up and saw the people there. He saw the rest of the Rookie Nine and Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee.

Neji had black hair with a white jacket with black shorts. Naruto took a look into his eyes. They were pale and had no iris. He was a possessor of the Byakuugan, an advanced bloodline ability that allowed the user to see the Tenketsu points of your opponent. If you hit your opponent with their style of Taijutsu, Jyuuken, you could kill your enemy easily. He stopped thinking about and turned to the girl.

Tenten had her hair in her usual Chinese Buns and wore a pink Chinese shirt with brown pants. Rock Lee however, wore a one-piece spandex suit with long orange-yellow socks that hid extremely heavy weights. His hands were heavily bandaged. But his face, oh his face was a sight to behold. He looked normal, but his eyebrows were thick and his hair was fashioned into a bowl cut. _'Fuzzy eyebrows.'_ He thought again.

He took his eyes off of Lee when he started to hit on Haruno Sakura, who kindly refused. He scanned his eyes over to her. She had begun to mature. She was in the transition stage from girl to woman. _'Man, she is a beauty,'_ He managed to pry his eyes off of her and turned to Uchiha Sasuke. He smirked. Naruto and Sasuke had begun to grow taller in the past two years. Sasuke was still taller than him, but he was slowly catching up. It probably wouldn't be long until Naruto overtakes him in height. Their facial features had also begun to change. It was slowly becoming that of a man.

His friend and eternal rival had everything he wanted. Attention, strength, girls fawning over him, whatever you could think of, he had. _'Plus, he's got the Sharingan,'_ In a way, Naruto was jealous of him. _'But no one could love me, because I'm everyone's favorite loser, dead last.' _Even though they had a bumpy start, they had become good friends over time. After Naruto had brought him back after he left to join Orochimaru, Sasuke began to open up. He had long lost his expressionless face and his eyes looked more alive. He actually had a social life.

It had been two years since the incident with Orochimaru killing the Third Hokage. Everyone was now around fifteen or sixteen. They had grown together over time and become close friends and comrades in arms. However, Orochimaru attacked Konoha every so often, causing the village to lose valuable shinobi in each attack. Even after the two years, he still attacked. So often, the twelve found themselves doing B and C rank missions. Thinking back to that time was painful for Naruto. So he cut it out of his mind.

Naruto's sapphire blue eyes locked onto a blonde girl arguing with Sakura over Sasuke. He knew that she was using Sasuke to get Shikamaru jealous, and Sakura knew that too, since they always shared their secrets. She was very developed. Her name was Yamanaka Ino. She had a ponytail with a tuft of her hair hanging over the side of her face while the rest was combed back. She wore a purple shirt and shorts and had bandaged legs. It's not that she was injured, but she liked to where them. He looked over to her two teammates: Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru.

Chouji was seen, eating. He always ate. It was his hobby, and he had the size to prove it. Shikamaru, on the other hand, had no hobby at all. He simply stared into space, looking at the clouds through the windows. He was the laziest of the lazy. But he had the highest IQ of the twelve, so he could afford to be lazy. He was already a chuunin, but he was with his old team.

Finally, he turned to the last team. Kiba and his white dog, Akamaru were sitting in the far corner. _'The second loudest person in Konoha, the first being me.'_ Kiba wore a grey hoodie sweater and had black pants. Akamaru was hanging out inside the sweater, with his head poking through the opening in the hood, right under Kiba's chin. Next to Kiba was Shino. He had black sunglasses, which no one could see through, and wore a gray jacket that managed to cover up the lower part of his face. Shino never really said anything unless he had to. He just stayed there, listening to his little destruction bugs.

A girl, almost outside of Naruto's sight was standing and contemplating her thoughts. _'Oh man, oh man, what should I do, WHAT SHOULD I DO?'_ She nervously began to play with her index fingers while blushing. It was a habit of hers. Whenever she was near him, she would blush and play with her index fingers. _'Do I sit by him? Do I try to talk to him? What should I do?'_ A voice snapped her out of her thought.

"Oi, Hinata! What are you doing back there? Why don't you take a seat?" It was him, the boy she respected and loved. Naruto was calling her to take a seat. She blushed deeply and slowly walked over and sat down next to him. He took a good look at her. Her eyes were like Neji's. She wore an oversized beige jacket and had loose-fitting blue jeans that ended a little above her ankles. Her body had also begun to develop. Perhaps she wore those clothes to hide them. She was about to talk to him when Tsunade walked in.

"Alright teams, listen up. We have information that the Village of Sound has set up a complex within our territories. I want you four teams to find as much information as possible and destroy the place. You can do this any way you want. I know that you guys are all still genin, but you guys are the best of them, so don't screw up on this, okay? This is an A-rank mission, so don't get yourselves killed. However, your senseis will be unable to be with you on this. They're busy on their own missions." She said.

"YOSH!!! Finally, something that's not D-rank!" Naruto yelled out. Hinata just looked at him, blushing and smiling at the boy she loved.

End Flashback

"Kiba, they're ready to leave." Ino spoke into the walkie-talkie

"Alright, lets blow this joint!" His loud voice rumbled through.

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This chapter is a bit short, but hey, it'll get longer. Trust me.


	2. DAMN YOU EROSENNIN!

Hey, hey! This is Drunkdragon12888 with another installment! I want to thank all of the people who gave me reviews. You are the inspiration as to why I am posting this chapter today rather on this coming Friday. But first, I've got to answer some questions.

S-Wanderer999: To your question about the Ninja ranks, Konoha was unable to have any chuunin exams for the past two years. If your village was constantly under attack, do you think they would have the time or the ninjas to be able to hold an exam? Plus, like the first time, the Sound could attack from the inside of Konoha during the exam. I hope this clears things up a bit.

This chapter has some humor tossed in, but towards the end, it's all serious business. It's not over-the-head humor, such as Naruto doing crazy things, but more like a subtle humor where you need to think a bit deeper to see.

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Chapter Two: DAMN YOU ERO-SENNIN!!!

A resounding explosion was heard. As the four teams headed back to Konoha through the treetops, they turned back to see the complex up in flames. Shikamaru looked back at Naruto.

"So were you able to weed out any information?" He asked.

"Yeah, the security was pitiful. You?" Naruto inquired. He pulled out several scrolls and tossed them to Shikamaru, who caught it with his graceful hands.

'_If only he would use those hands in a more romantic manner.'_ Thought a certain blonde kunoichi.

"We didn't get much from the guards patrolling. But we still got some." Naruto turned and faced the direction of the Konoha. Thanks to Shikamaru's great plan, which he seemed to have many of, none of them had been hurt. They continued on their way to Konoha. _'Tsunade will be pleased with the information we have.'_ Shikamaru thought.

_Tsunade's office_

"Well done you twelve. That was a difficult mission. I think you guys deserve a two-week break. You can do whatever you guys want: train, rest, have fun, etc." Sakura cut her off.

"But Tsunade-sama! We are shinobi of Konoha! This village needs us!" Everyone murmured in agreement.

"I don't care. I, Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of Konoha, order you twelve to take a break! You are dismissed." They all left the Hokage's office pretty angry. What the hell was she thinking allowing them to take a break when Konoha needed them most? And when did she treat herself as almighty?

"Stupid obachan." Said Naruto. Everyone nodded in agreement, though only to the stupid part. Though they all knew that Tsunade used genjutsu to make herself look younger, they all also knew better than to refer to her as obachan. They all left to go to their homes, leaving Naruto with his teammates. "Hey, since we're on this break thing, we may as well make the most out of it." He turned to Sakura.

"No, sorry Naruto, but I won't go out with you." Sakura didn't even let him finish. "It's just that I have some personal affairs to deal with today. Don't take it the wrong way." She left towards her house, leaving the two guys.

"Man... I'm bored. So what are you going to do, Sasuke? Want to go catch a movie?"

"Actually, I'm kind of busy today, also. I've also got some... um... personal affairs. Yeah, you've got to hate those personal affairs." Naruto could have sworn that Sasuke had just blushed. _'Damnit! All these years with Kakashi-sensei and I still can't come up with a good lie!'_

"Since when did you have personal affairs Sasuke? ... Hey, are you blushing?"

"N-no, I'm not blushing, I-I'm just being my good old self. What makes you think I'm blushing?"

"I think you are blushing."

"I am NOT BLUSHING!!! Stop asking me questions!" Sasuke then left in a hurry to his house. Naruto simply shrugged and shot a look at his watch. It was 12:45 pm.

"May as well get some ramen." He began to walk down to the Ichiraku Ramen shop. It was his favorite place to hang out in. Sure, they served his favorite food, but what nice is that it was almost like a bar, minus the alcohol and drunkards. People would go there and talk and rumors would fly around the room. It was a place to gather information. Plus, every so often, he would meet his friends there.

Today must have been one of those every-so-often days.

A man was sitting down who looked awfully familiar. He had his hair up in a pineapple fashion and had black clothing with a chuunin vest. He had a scar across going sideways across his face. He had a forehead protector on his forehead, because that's where they belong. It was the man who first acknowledged him.

"Hi, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called out to him. Iruka looked up from his bowl.

"Hey Naruto! You know that you don't have to call me sensei anymore. It makes me feel old, you know?"

"Yeah well, you'll always be sensei to me." They sat and talked for three hours, catching up on old times, talking about their troubles, etc. When they stopped, Naruto had ten bowls piled up. Iruka sweatdropped as he the shop manager gave him the bill. Though he enjoyed these times with Naruto, the bill always took a large chunk out of his wallet. And being a teacher didn't really help much with paying for it either.

Iruka began to reach for it when it suddenly vanished before his very eyes. Confused, he saw Naruto taking out his frog-shaped wallet, filled to the brim with money, and paying for the both of them. "Since when did you have so much money?" _'He's getting fast. I didn't even see his hand reach for the bill!' _Iruka thought.

"I just finished an A-rank mission."

"Impressive. Well, I got to go a... file some papers at the Academy... yeah... paperwork. See you later!" _'Even I am a friend of Kakashi, I still can't come up with a half decent lie!'_ Iruka called out. He stood up and left in a hurry, though not in the direction of the academy. Naruto paid no heed and went off in his own direction. By paying no attention to his former sensei, he missed the part where Iruka got glomped by his girlfriend, Anko.

'_I might as well go home for now. The movie doesn't start till later.'_ He went back to his apartment. He was climbing the stairs when he ran into his rival, Sasuke.

"Hey... Naruto." Sasuke looked dead tired. Panting, he continued. "I... ran over here looking... for you."

"Well, why don't you come to my apartment? We can have a talk there." Naruto led him to his apartment. When they entered, Sasuke was amazed by the messiness of it. There were pieces of paper here and there, scrolls lying about and many, many empty ramen packs.

"I always thought that your apartment would be a mess. But how could it be this messy? Come on, you have to clean up this place every so often."

"Let's not talk about that. What did you want to tell me?"

"Well... promise you won't make fun of me first." Naruto nodded, giving him his word. "Well, how would you tell a girl that you're in love with her, but you want to take the relationship at a slow pace? A lot of girls would probably want to get into my pants on the first date, and I really don't want that." Sasuke was blushing.

'Ha! I knew you were blushing! But I'll keep my word.' Naruto thought. He replied, "Simple: just go out and tell her. If she truly loves you back, she will be willing to wait until you are ready." Sasuke smiled at the simplicity and wisdom of it.

"Thanks dobe, I feel that you're the only friend I can trust with these kind of secrets."

"No problem Sasuk-idiot." Sasuke left the room. _'Well, its about two hours till the movie starts. I guess I'll take a nap.'_ Naruto leapt onto the couch and fell asleep. Later, he woke up and left his apartment, leaving the door unlocked. He never locked it, since he would always forget where he put the key. Besides, it's not like anyone would find anything to steal in there. Unless you consider a mountain of ramen packs valuable, he didn't have any valuables except for the frog-shaped wallet that he had taken the liberty to called Gama-chan and the necklace Tsunade gave him. He carried those two objects with him all the time.

Naruto began to walk to the movie theater. It was his break, so he might as well take a day or two off before he begins to train. When he got there, a lot of men and some women were dressed in black clothing, mostly trench coats, and had black sunglasses on were standing in line. He took a look at what was playing. He figured out that they were dressed like that to hide their identity.

They had the movie "The Shinobi." But what really shocked him was the other movie. "Icha Icha Paradise 2" Naruto silently swore. The movie had won twelve academy awards, breaking the world record, which was set by "Icha Icha Paradise, The Movie," which had eleven. _'Damn you Ero-sennin!! DAMN YOU TO THE MANY DEPTHS OF HELL FOR WRITING THAT BOOK!'_ Naruto approached the ticket booth.

"One for 'The Shinobi,' please," Naruto said.

"Here you go, enjoy your movie." The people had begun to act nicer to Naruto. After seeing him beat Neji in the Chuunin Exams, people no longer feared or hated him. They began to treat him as a normal citizen. Some of them had even tried to offer him money and gifts because they were mean to him. Naruto, however, kindly refused.

He took a seat right when the preview started. Luckily for him, there was only one. Sadly, it was for the movie "Icha Icha Paradise 3." _'Damnit Jiraiya!!! I'm going to kill you and send you to hell myself!'_

The movie began to start. Within five minutes, Naruto's attention was elsewhere. It's not that the movie was bad. It was very interesting. But what was going on around him was simply so much better at stealing his attention.

Oblivious to each other, there were three couples in the room. Shikamaru was with Ino in the back, holding and kissing her. Neji and Tenten were about ten seats to his left. She was sitting on his lap and Neji was just kissing her neck and hugging Tenten at the waist. She began to blush a light crimson and began to kiss Neji back. But what really shocked him was the third couple.

Three rows down sat Sasuke and Sakura. They were both kissing, paying no heed to the world, the movie, or the fan girls who were crying rivers in the back.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto winced. He knew what was coming next. "I think I'm in love with you. But I want to take this relationship slowly. Is that okay with you?"

"It's more than okay, I would wait forever for you, Sasuke-kun." They resumed to their kissing. But a gust a wind caused them to look up. Three rows up from them and ten to the right of Neji and Tenten was a seat that was slowly bobbing into the upright position.

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I'm so sorry!!! I just had to kill Naruto there! Now what will poor Naruto do? Sasuke loves Sakura, and now he's even more alone!!! To all you NaruHina fans out there, there will be some interaction between them in chapter three.


	3. Letting Go Of Your Pains

Hi, this is Drunkdragon12888 with another installment ahead! There is a bit of Naruhina fluff for you Naruhina fans.

I do not own Naruto. Please read and review.

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Chapter 3: Letting go of Your Pains

'_Kuso, kuso, kuso, kuso, KUSO!!!'_ Naruto mentally screamed. He was leaping from rooftop to rooftop towards the Team 7 training area, his silent tears slowly meandering their way down his cheeks. When he got there, Naruto immediately did what Rock Lee did best: beating the crap out of training stumps.

After an hour of doing what Rock Lee did best, he sat down and took a look at the block of wood. It had dents here and there, but there were also imprints of blood. He took a look at his hands. They were bleeding, though it had stopped and already healed, thanks to the help of the Kyuubi within him. Feeling too tired to feel sad, he began to walk home

He passed by his current sensei, Kakashi. He was seen kissing Kurenai, Hinata's sensei. Had he been paying more attention to the fact that Kakashi was KISSING Kurenai, he would have realized that his mouthpiece was off. But he saw something else. _'Man, everyone here has someone who they can love and others who love them back. I'm the only one who isn't loved by anyone. Sure, I have friends, but they only see me as a friend. I feel so... so alone.'_ He continued to walk to his apartment.

_**The Next Day**_

The sun was shining through the thin curtains in our favorite shinobi's room. From the sun's position, it was about nine in the morning. Rolling over, Naruto attempted to keep the sun away from his eyes. To his dismay, he fell off of the bed for a rather rude awakening. _'Kuso, it's the same thing every morning: the sun mocks me with its stupid little rays of light and I fall off of the bed. It's so damn painful and its not the best way I would like to wake up. Except today, it just hurts so much more.'_ He thought. Sure, it hurt to wake up every morning like this, but it hurt more when he remembered what he saw yesterday.

"I really need to talk to Sasuke about this." He proceeded to leave his room without completing his morning ritual of eating a breakfast of ramen. He slowly ambled to his team's training area. His teammates and he have come up with a ritual of meeting at the training spot everyday unless they were unable to do so. There they would train, hang out, etc. Sometimes, Neji's team and the other Rookie Nine would meet there too. When he got closer, he heard a few voices.

"Sasuke-kun, do you think something happened to Naruto?" A girl said.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm very sure that he can take care of himself." Sasuke answered.

"I know that, but it's not like him to arrive this late. If he keeps this up, he'll be later than Kakashi-sensei!" A poof was heard.

"Actually, he is already later than me." Kakashi had actually arrived earlier than one of his students. What a miracle. At this point, Naruto had just appeared through the clearing. His head was toward the ground and his hands were in his pockets. He did not greet them in any manner. Nor did he realize that Kakashi had arrived at the training area before him. They immediately knew something was wrong.

Naruto just kept walking until he was standing next to his team and sensei. After that, he just took a seat on the ground, still staring down. Sakura turned to Sasuke. He nodded and she knelt down next to him.

"Ohayo, Naruto."

"Ohayo, Sakura." The entire group immediately noticed how he failed to say chan at the end of her name. Something definitely wasn't right. Sakura, however, thought that it wasn't the best time to address it yet.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Naruto?"

"What do you want, Sakura?" She was taken back. Since when has Naruto been able to see through her words? He had gotten smarter over the years, but this was the first time he had seen through one of her plies to get him to talk about something.

"What's wrong, Naruto? You're not being loud and noisy, you have failed to greet us, which you have been doing everyday for the last several years, AND you arrived later than Kakashi-sensei! What's wrong? You can tell us. You can tell all of us." She said pleadingly.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Naruto yelled. "Just leave me alone." And with that, Naruto disappeared, just like an ANBU squad would: leaving a small poof of smoke. Everyone was surprised. Even though the ANBU squads would often disappear like that, only the most elite could. When had Naruto become this good? And what caused him to be so moody?

"I don't like the look of this." Sakura said.

"Neither do I. What should we do?" Sasuke replied.

"I say we find Hinata and let her comfort him. It's obvious that he won't talk to any of us. Plus she does like him and all. Maybe he might just finally realize her." Sakura suggested. Kakashi, however, had other thoughts running through his head.

'_Crap. Since when had Naruto been able to do that? And at such a young age too. His seal may be weakening, possibly due to his emotional state. This is not good. I better tell Hokage-sama about this.'_ With that he disappeared, much like Naruto did earlier, leaving the concerned genin.

_**Later That Day**_

Hinata was climbing the steps to Naruto's apartment, her cheeks a deep scarlet. Had it gotten any deeper, one would have thought that she had gotten sunburned. _'Oh... My... God...'_ were the only thoughts going on in her head. _'I am walking to Naruto-kun's apartment. I am going to go talk to Naruto-kun in his apartment. I will be alone, in Naruto-kun's apartment, talking to Naruto-kun. What am I going to do and how am I going to do this?'_

_**Flashback**_

"Hinata! Hinata!" Hinata turned around to see Sakura and Sasuke running after her. "We need... to talk... to you," Sakura began trying to catch her breath.

"It's... about Naruto," Sasuke finished for her. Hinata's eyes snapped open and she began to stain her cheeks with crimson. She began her trademark motion: the twiddling of her index fingers.

"He seems to be upset about something. We tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't talk to us. Then he just ran off. He's probably at his apartment. You have to do something! He's probably angry at us, so we need you to intercede for us."

"Well... um... a..." Hinata was at a loss of words. It was her perfect chance to tell Naruto that she loved him with all her heart.

"Please, we need your help. We don't want Naruto to kill himself."

"...Ok. I'll do it."

_**End Flashback**_

'_He needs you, girl. Just go in and help him.'_ Hinata was standing at the door. She knocked. She knocked again. She turned the doorknob, which, to her surprise, was unlocked. She entered and found the room VERY clean. She swore that she saw that some of the tiles twinkled in the sunlight, much like Gai's and Rock Lee's teeth.

"Naruto-kun? Are you there?" Hinata got no answer. She heard some sobbing coming from the bedroom. She opened the door and found Naruto huddled sitting on his bed with tears rolling down his whiskered cheeks. He heard the door open and turned around and saw her. She blushed and hid behind the doorframe, letting a bit of her blushing face peek out.

"Hinata? What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?" he asked politely. _'Why does she always hide behind something when she sees me? Is she afraid of me? She probably is.'_

"Sakura and Sasuke asked me to come here, Naruto-kun. Plus your door was unlocked." Her voice was barely audible. "Is something wrong? You were crying back there, weren't you? And why is your house so clean? It's cleaner than mine." She approached him and took a seat on his bed next to Naruto. _'Oh my God, I am alone in Naruto-kun's apartment talking to Naruto-kun on Naruto-kun's bed! What should I do? Should I hug him? Should I-,'_

"It's just that... I was so angry that I had to let off steam. I would have gone out to train, but I didn't want to get confronted by Sasuke and Sakura. So I just cleaned my apartment multiple times." There was a long pause before he answered her other question. "I've grown up without my parents. And everyone in town hated me. I grew up as an unloved, unwanted child." Hinata was shocked. She knew that the people disliked Naruto until after his first Chuunin exam, but to grow up without the love of parents. To grow up without the love from anybody for the fifteen years of his painful life. Of course, he didn't know that she loved him, but still! It was just too damn harsh to watch the boy that she secretly loved to go through this.

"I really loved Sakura. I really did. She never paid any attention to me, but I still loved her. And when I saw Sasuke, my best friend, kiss her at the movie theater and take her love away from me, I just broke down. I'm happy for them that they have each other, but... it just hurt so much. I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know what it feels like to be loved. I've only know hurt and rejection..." Hinata was crying now. She was still unsure what to do, but she did what came to her mind first.

She hugged him. Not a friendly hug, but a genuine hug. Her head was on his shoulder. He took a look at her face. She wasn't blushing this time.

Naruto could not believe this. A girl, who he only knew on the level of a friend, was hugging him like a lover would. The tears began to work up again. "It's ok, Naruto-kun. It's ok. Just pour out all of your sorrows onto me." Naruto just let the tears flow, being hugged by his secret admirer but still clueless.

"I'll tell them how I feel tomorrow. Arigatou, Hinata." _'Why does it feel so good to be hugged by her? Could this be what it feels like to be loved? I'll have to thank her for this later.'_

_

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_

So the problem is solved! Naruto is no longer a moody boy and Hinata may have been able to make him realize her! But how will he thank her? Tune in next time for chapter four: Yes! Back to Work!


	4. Yes! Back To Work!

Hey all, its me with another chapter! There's going to be a bit more NaruHina fluff. I'm not sure if this will disappoint you, but the other pairings aren't going to get much light in this fic. Sorry about that.

I was going to post this tomorrow, but I don't think I would have had the time.

I do not own Naruto in any way. Please read and review!

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Chapter Four: Yes!!! Back to Work!

"Ohayo, Sakura, Sasuke!" Naruto called out.

"Ohayo Naruto." They returned. _'It looks like Hinata got the job done. I wonder if she told him that she loved him.'_

"So what's with the sudden mood change? Yesterday, you were all moody." Sasuke asked.

"Well, since both of you are here and Kakashi-sensei has yet to arrive, I'll tell you." Naruto said. "I saw you two the other day in the movie theater." He suddenly wasn't as cheery. "I saw you two kiss and I saw heard you," he looked at Sasuke, "use the words that I told you to say."

"It hurt a lot. It really did. But I guess I just needed a day to calm down or so. Either way, I'm happy for the both of you." He ended in a cheery note. Both Sasuke and Sakura felt a little guilty, but they were glad that Naruto was out of his moody phase.

"We're sorry that we've hurt you. No hard feelings?" Sakura said.

"Of course not. You guys are my friends. I can't stay mad at you forever." Suddenly, there was a poof of smoke, meaning that Kakashi had arrived.

"Hello, sorry I'm late. You see, there was an old man who wanted to play-," Kakashi began, but was cut off by his students.

"LIAR!!!" the three genin yelled.

"Eh, it was worth a shot. Anyway, I just had a talk with the Gondaime and even though you were supposed to be on break, an important mission came up."

"This better be a good one." Naruto said.

"It's a B-rank mission. She needs you to escort one of the Wave's feudal lords back to their home." The Wave country had changed. Ever since they had finished the Great Naruto Bridge, their economy had begun to grow drastically, and it still was. They have begun to raise shinobi of its own since countries now had an interest in it. Their government was much like Konoha's, which was very much like a democracy.

"She says that she'll pay you well, since she had to take you guys off of your break. However, you guys need to be careful, since other shinobis may be out there to kill him. Also, I will be unable to assist you, since this village needs every shinobi it has. You need to go to the Hokage's office now. I'll see you guys when you get back." With that, he took out his book, Icha Icha Paradise vol. 4, and disappeared.

'_I am SO going to kill you, Ero-sennin!'_ Naruto thought.

_**Tsunade's office**_

"Gondaime-sama, you have three visitors." Her secretary called.

"Let them in." Tsunade said.

"Ohayo, Tsunade-obachan!" Naruto called out as the three genins entered the room. Sakura and Sasuke quickly stepped away from him. They both knew about the genjutsu Tsunade uses to make herself look no older then twenty-five, but she was old enough to be their grandmother.

"Call me that again and I will impale you on a stick." She had a vein sticking out of her head.

"Sure you will, obachan, sure you will."

"I will pretend I did not hear you say that. Anyway, I believe Kakashi has already told you your mission." They all nodded. Tsunade continued. "You are to protect one of the Wave country's feudal lords. He has specifically requested you three and that he says he is a good friend of yours." A man walked in through the door.

"Hello you three, it is nice to see you guys again." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke recognized the voice. They turned around and smiled.

"Hello, Tazuna-san." Naruto called out.

"Just call me Tazuna. Lets get going, shall we?" They left the building. They were approaching the gates when they saw a girl with short blue hair and pale eyes chasing after them.

"Naruto, go talk to her." Sasuke said.

"Why me?"

"Just go, dobe." Sasuke pushed him towards her. So Naruto stayed behind while the other three continued on their way. Hinata slowed down to a stop.

"Where are you going, Naruto-kun? I thought that you were on break?" She squeaked. Naruto thought that her face was like a red, ripe tomato.

"Well, Tsunade-obachan said that Tazuna needed to get to the Wave Country as soon as possible, and he specifically requested us. She's going to pay us extra." Naruto said.

"But..." She twiddled her index fingers and looked down. "It's a B-rank mission. What if something happens to you?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He lifted her chin up to him with his finger, causing Hinata to stare into his blue eyes, his electrifying blue eyes. She blushed even more under its piercing gaze. "Don't look so down, I'll be back before you know it. Oh yeah, thanks for helping me out the other day. In fact, I have a present for you." Naruto took off his most expensive possession, and no, it was not the headband. "Here." He took off the necklace Tsunade gave him and put it around her neck, causing her to turn even redder. "It's my promise to you that I'll be back." Naruto then left to catch up with the rest of his team.

"Then I'll be waiting for you right here, Naruto-kun." She looked at the necklace in the palm of her hand. _'I'll wait, no matter how long it takes for you to get back.'_

_**Somewhere in the Wave Country**_

"Crossing this bridge brings back old memories." Sasuke said. The last time they had been on a bridge this big was when they fought Haku and Zabuza. The bridge they were on was over a cliff. Between the two cliffs was a river that was about one hundred feet below. It looked very much like the Great Naruto Bridge. That was expected, since the great Tazuna himself also crafted it.

"Yeah, like when you 'died,'" Naruto joked.

"Hey, that's not very funny! I really thought Sasuke-kun died!" Sakura cried out.

"Is Zabuza's and Haku's grave still somewhere around in the Wave Country?" Sasuke piped up.

"Yeah. It's still up on that hilltop which overlooks the Great Naruto Bridge. Even though they attacked me, they are still respected for turning against Gatou in the end. Zabuza's head cleaver is still there at his grave. In fact, there is a myth that says Zabuza's soul protects the sword from bandits, keeping it embedded in the ground."

"It looks like our Team Seven is already famous." Sakura said. Suddenly, five senbon needles were seen flying out towards Tazuna, hitting him in the chest region. The assaulter stood in front of them. He had brown, wavy hair, which was kept down by his Sound forehead protector. He wore a white sweater and white pants. He had white strings attached to the sleeve of his sweater and on the side of his pants, the strings being about one foot in length.

Tazuna then disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to be replaced by a block of wood.

"Hey Tazuna, I didn't know you knew how to use ninjutsu." Sakura said.

"I was taught a few for my own safety, but I only know Kawarimi, Water Shield, and Water Bullet."

The assailant opened his mouth. "Uchiha Sasuke, you are coming with me to pay a little visit to Orochimaru-sama."

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Who is this guy? And how is Hinata fairing? Tune in next time for Chapter Five: Battle On The Bridge! 


	5. Battle On The Bridge

Hi everyone, This is drunkdragon12888 with another chapter for you guys. It gets a bit angsty in here. I would like to thank everyone who gave reviews, and those who did not but still gave the time to read my fic. Now to answer a few questions from the reviewers.

irukapooka: Sadly, this sound nin probably will not be used in this fic again, unless you want me to work him in. He is currently nameless right now, so if for all those who would want me to use him again, please drop a comment with an interesting name and, if you can, a possible translation.

I do not own Naruto in any way.

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Chapter Five: Battle on the Bridge

"There is no way in hell that I would go to that sick excuse of a ninja." Sasuke said.

"It doesn't matter whether you want to or not. I'll just have to take you there unconscious then." The sound nin said. He immediately ran at Sasuke, who did not bother to activate his Sharingan.

"Naruto, Sakura-chan, protect Tazuna-san. I'll deal with this bastard." Sasuke said.

"But I don't want to watch this! I want to help!" Naruto stopped her before she could say anything else.

"Sakura, as much as we both want to be in this fight, Sasuke has a personal vendetta against Orochimaru for putting the cursed seal on him. He wants to get revenge himself. So if you don't want him to be angry at you, I suggest that you do what he says. Plus, we have to protect Tazuna." Sakura obeyed, though it pained her to do so.

The Sound nin began to spin on the balls of his feet, allowing the strings attached to him to fly outwards. Sasuke watched carefully and was suddenly hit by a senbon needle on his right arm. He pulled it out and threw it back. The sound nin dodged it easily.

'_What the hell? He didn't even throw it!'_ He thought.

"Surprised, Sasuke? I thought so. Inside each of the strings are cases, which hold multiple senbon needles. Using my chakra, I can control which ones open and close. I can also control the direction of the needles sent out." The Sound nin said.

"That's a flashy trick. Too bad you'll need more than that to stop me." Sasuke quickly did some hand seals. "Fire Element: Mystic Fire Flower no Jutsu!"

The Sound nin just smirked and did a few hand seals of his own. "Sound Element: Sound wave no Jutsu!" A sound wave was then visibly seen flying through Sasuke's jutsu, taking out the flame and the shurikens that were hidden within it. Sasuke's Sharingan copied it, storing it for later use. The sound wave continued towards Sasuke, who jumped out of the way. He then went in to try and land some punches on his opponent.

The sound nin threw a left hook followed by an uppercut with his other hand. Sasuke dodged them and countered with a quick punch to the gut. With the wind knocked out of him, the sound nin recoiled and spun around, letting loose a few senbon needles at Sasuke. Sasuke grabbed a few and threw them back at him, piercing him at several points in the right shoulder.

Smirking, the sound nin pulled out the bloody needles and let them drop to the ground. He gave out a smirk.

"You have definitely improved over the years, Sasuke. However, you need to become stronger. You've done much better than I thought you would. Well, I must return now, but before I go, I think I'll leave you a little present." He then disappeared in an ANBUish manner.

Sasuke, not knowing what he meant, turned around and began to walk away until he heard a sizzling noise. He saw exploding notes wrapping the floor around him in a semi-circle. The kanji on it was a little different though. They were about to explode. _'Shit!'_

Suddenly, Sasuke found himself lying on the ground, about twenty feet away from the explosion. Sakura and Tazuna were running over to him.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?" Sakura cried out.

"That was a super explosion! What the hell was he thinking?" Tazuna said.

'_Wait... He?'_ Sasuke looked around. Where was Naruto? "Sakura-chan! Where's Naruto?"

"He pushed you out of the explosion." Sakura said while looking about for the blonde-haired shinobi. "Let's take a look over there." The three of them ran over to the crater to see Naruto dangling one-handed from a piece of metal.

"Dobe! What the hell do you think you were doing? Why did you push me out?"

"Because you two just found each other. As for me, I have no one. No parents, no family, no one willing to love me. I still want to be Hokage and all, but what's the point if no one is there stand with me? I'll be living my dream, but I won't live it out happily."

"Naruto! There has always been someone who loved you. She was just too timid to admit it and you have been to stupid to realize it!" Sakura screamed. "Now pull yourself out for her!"

Naruto smiled. _'So someone really does love me... I wonder who...'_ His thought then turned to a certain blue haired shinobi, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his head, seeing as how he wasn't in much of a position to think about it. He tried to summon up some chakra to power up his arm, but he somehow ran out. He couldn't even tap into the Kyuubi's chakra, because it had also been drained. "I can't! I'm out of chakra!"

"How the hell is that possible? You didn't do crap!" Tazuna yelled.

Thinking back to the explosion, Sasuke had an idea. "The exploding tags. They must have been made to suck out your chakra too. Give me your hand, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. Using his other arm, he reached up to grab his hand. But he was a bit short. Naruto let it drop down to his side again.

"I can't reach that far, Sasuke!"

"Yes you can dobe. Now try again!" Naruto began to try to grab his hand. He was slowly closing the gap. Five inches. Four. Three. Two. One.

_Snap_

The metal object that Naruto was holding on to broke, causing Naruto to plummet down the one hundred feet into the fast-moving river. "NARUTO!" both genins cried out. He landed in the water with a loud splash.

"DAMNIT! DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!!!" Sasuke screamed. He stood up, backed away and tripped and fell onto his backside. He was now sitting up, staring at the bridge. He was tired that everyone he knew dying in front of him. First it was his clan. Now, it was his first true friend, Naruto.

But the fact that Naruto died wasn't what pained him the most. Oh no. Naruto didn't die. Naruto was killed in his attempt to save Sasuke. Killed by him, the one of the two remaining holders of the Sharingan of the famous Uchiha Clan. He thought back to all of the times when he put down Naruto, calling him 'dead last' and making fun of his dream. A searing pain in his head brought him out of his trance.

"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!" The pain was unbearable. Sasuke was holding onto his head, as if he was going mad. It felt like a white-hot iron was going to slice his head in two. His eyes were clenched shut. The last time he felt pain like this was when Orochimaru gave him the cursed seal, which was still on his neck, though another seal was suppressing it.

"Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" Sasuke could feel his Sharingan eyes activating. He did not activate it himself, and slowly, the pain began to move down to his eye region. Suddenly, the pain was gone. He opened his eyes, Sharingan still activated, to see Sakura. She immediately gasped.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. Sakura, instead of answering the question, pulled out a mirror and let him take a good look at himself. He too gasped at the sight. Staring back at him through the mirror was himself with the Sharingan eyes, both with three swirls in each eye. He had mastered it, along with gaining the Mangekyou Sharingan, the ultimate genjutsu skill for the Uchiha Clan.

'_Mangekyou Sharingan...'_ Sasuke thought. He had heard his father talk about this skill. He remembered hearing that in order to obtain the powerful genjutsu, you had to kill your best friend. It was back then when he made a vow to never gain the Mangekyou Sharingan, for the cost to him was too high. Thinking that far back made him remember his damn brother, Itachi.

'_Damn you Uchiha Clan, damn you Itachi, DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!'_

_

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_

I just killed Naruto, though not really. Now what's going to happen? How will Hinata take this, who had never been able to reveal her true feelings to him? Five years can change a lot. Tune in next time for Chapter Six: The Lifting of The Seal!!!


	6. The Lifting Of The Seal

Hey all, this is Drunkdragon12888 with yet another installment! Now to answer a question...

to **_IrukaPooka_** and **_Dragon Man 180_**: I know that it seems strange that Sasuke could all of a sudden gain the Mangekyou Sharingan, but you need to look at the psychology of it. Sasuke believes that he could not protect his family because he wasn't strong enough. So I know that I altered his psychology, but Sasuke feels that Naruto pushed him out of the circle because he wasn't strong enough. Therefore, in Sasuke's somewhat twisted mind, he believes that he killed him. I hope that answers this question.

Please read and review!

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Chapter Six: The Lifting of the Seal 

It was five a.m. in the morning. Hyuuga Hinata was walking to her students' training grounds, or, to be more accurate, to some place in the relative direction of her students' training grounds. She was dressed in a white t-shirt, which complimented her curves. On the back of the shirt was a red swirl. She wore short black pants that ended about a little higher than her knees. Her forehead protector was still around her neck. Below it was her jounin vest. It had almost been five years since her Naruto-kun died on the bridge. After hearing his death, Hinata had cried like she never cried before.

Naruto's death hit everyone really hard. Even the townspeople who had hated, cursed, and despised him came to his burial ceremony, although there was no body. But everyone knew that they were spared much grief compared to what Hinata went through.

She missed meals, training, everything. His name had been etched into the monument where there was a list of shinobis who gave their life to the success of the mission. Whenever she missed something, everyone knew that she was at the monument, crying her heart out.

But the death of Naruto had brought more than that though. Hinata changed. She was no longer the timid girl, but she was now outgoing and fearless. She would live on for her Naruto-kun, and only for him. She had sworn a vow of chastity, meaning that she will never marry and have sex with a man, or, more accurately, any man that was not the Uzumaki Naruto she knew. She felt that she belonged to him and that she would join him in the afterlife, still a virgin for him.

Her determination to live on was able to fuel her to train. She quickly became better than the rest of the Rookie Nine and her cousin's team. During the next Chuunin Exam, she became a chuunin. Two years later, she became a jounin at the age of seventeen and began to specialize in medicine. What really amazed everyone was that she had reached the position of jounin before anyone else from the Rookie Nine and Neji's team. The entire Hyuuga clan was amazed at her progress and wanted to reinstate her to the position of heiress of the clan. She kindly refused and gave it to Hanabi, her younger sister.

Hinata stopped walking and turned to face the monument of which her Naruto-kun's name was written. She knelt down by the monument and read his name. Suddenly, she felt the presence of another person. She quickly activated her Byakuugan and sighed. It was just Sasuke.

Sasuke had changed over the past five years. He was now an ANBU Squad Leader, much like her cousin Neji and his ex-teammate Rock Lee. He was dressed in his ANBU outfit and had his mask off in his right hand. His mask was that of a wolf. She took a look at the hand and saw the ring on it. Sakura and Sasuke had been married for two years now. Sakura was still dressed the same, except that her dress was a little longer and she was a full-grown woman now. Her hair was also a bit longer, though in the same style. She was also a jounin who worked at the Academy along with her best friend, Ino. Iruka still taught class, even though he was getting old.

Speaking of Ino, she was also married to Shikamaru. Come to think of it, everyone was either seeing someone, married, or engaged, including Rock Lee and Shino. Neji and Tenten were still dating though. Neji was just afraid to pop the question. There was no big change between the people then and now. They were still the same, except for a few attitude changes.

"Come to see Naruto today, Hinata-san?" Sasuke said.

"Hai, and please, call me Hinata."

"Though I honor your choice of staying chaste, I would think that Naruto would want you to be happy."

"I cannot marry anyone else, because he made a promise to come back to me." Hinata held out the necklace Naruto gave her that day. "And I intend to be there for him and only him when he comes back to me." Hinata then realized something. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be on a mission to help the Hidden Village of Grass overthrow their government in favor for one like ours?"

"I just got back. It turns out that when we got there, they had already overthrown it. Kawasaki Hatori had already led the rebels to victory. I also heard he's got a nickname: the Demon Shinobi. But if he ever comes here, it shouldn't be much of a threat. He's only leading rebels who want to change their government to one much like ours. But we should still be careful."

'_Now all of the Shinobi Villages have gone through a revolution save Konoha, Wave, and Sound within a time period of five years. And each of them ended before the shinobi Konoha sent out arrived there. And each time, they all said that they were helped by a shinobi who went by the name of Kawasaki Hatori. What's going on with the world?'_ Hinata thought. Suddenly, there was a sizzling sound and smoke began to rise from Sasuke's neck.

"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!" He screamed, holding his neck. Hinata ran over to him and took a look at his neck. She was shocked. The cursed seal was slowly disappearing. After Sasuke had told them about Naruto's death, he also told them about the cursed seal he was given.

After a while, Sasuke could no longer feel the pain. "Hinata, what happened?"

"You're cursed seal... it's gone."

"Woohoo!!!" Sasuke jumped up with a smile on his face. "I'm free I tell you! Free!!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" He just fell to the ground laughing in happiness. After a while he stopped and took a deep breathe. A part of his mind had realized something. "Wait, if my seal is gone, then does that mean that Orochimaru is dead?"

"It could be anything, Sasuke. Anything."

"Hmm. Well, I better go report about the mission and this to Tsunade-sama. See you later, Hinata. You might want to keep track of the time. If you're always late for things, then you might just turn out like Kakashi... minus that damn perverted mind of his."

"Alright, Sasuke. Bye."

_**Three Hours Later**_

"Damn it, Hinata-sensei is always late!" One male genin called out. "Its already eight o'clock!"

"I know Satoru, what gives?" the other male genin called. He turned to his female genin teammate. "What do you think causes Hinata-sensei to be late, Rin?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her yourself, Kyo?" Suddenly, a poof of smoke was seen.

"Gomen-nasai! See, I was trying to help this little boy find his mother when-," Hinata was cut off.

"LIAR!!!" All three of them called out. Hinata just shrugged and continued.

"Eh, worth a try. Anyway, we have another mission from Hokage-sama. There's some grass that needs weeding somewhere up north. Go talk to the Hokage for more information." Yes, she apparently inherited Kakashi's punctual lateness.

"What the hell, Hinata-sensei? We're ninjas now! We've got better things to do rather than go deal with some person's weed!" Kyo yelled out. He realized later that the sentence was very true, as they later discovered that he was growing marijuana.

"But you guys are only genin right now, and it would be pointless to send you out on a mission you can't possibly handle. So get to work." The three genin grumpily left the training area, leaving Hinata to be able to go to the monument again. She slowly walked to the dark-stoned monument. She was running the events of the day through her head. _'I wonder what caused the Cursed Seal to leave him... Could it really be that Orochimaru is dead?'_ She came up with strange but plausible reasons as to why the Cursed Seal lifted itself off of Sasuke. Hell, no matter how strange of an idea she came up with it seemed plausible, minus anything with Naruto in it. She just kept daydreaming about ideas, strange but plausible ideas.

None of her strange and plausible ideas were even close to being true since none of them involved Naruto.

_**Eight Hours Ago in the Village of Sound**_

Orochimaru was seen hurtling toward a wall. He hit the wall with a loud thud, causing a spider web of cracks to go through the wall. _'Damn that kid! He's only twenty and he's beating the crap out of me! How did he get this powerful in just twenty years?'_

"Release your Cursed Seal on Uchiha Sasuke, and I'll let you live, for now." The attacker said. He wore black denim pants, black shoes, and a black leather jacket, zipping it up halfway. He had no undershirt so his chest was partly revealed and a necklace with a small Kyuubi design hanging from it. On his right hand was a metallic-looking red glove that completely covered his hand and ended up to about his wrist. On the back of the glove on the largest plate was the Konoha emblem. He had silvery hair and wore black sunglasses that effectively hid his electric blue eyes. His skin had a dark tan, effectively hiding his whisker-like marks on his face. It was Naruto. The five years he had lived after falling off of the bridge drastically changed him.

"How do I know that you'll keep your word?" Orochimaru hissed. He was damn tired from getting himself bounced around like a basketball. There was no way for him to fight off his attacker.

"You are in no position to bargain, snake." Naruto inwardly grinned. He was a genius, making up his own name and identity, Hatori Kawasaki. What was left was now to return to Konoha and take his place as Hokage. _'But that probably won't be very easy. I'll have to explain who I am and then I have to prove myself. At least I still have the Leaf forehead protector.' _He thought.

"Alright, I'll do it. I'll take off my damn seal from Uchiha Sasuke." He quickly did some hand seals. "Seal Release no Jutsu!" Naruto could feel the chakra aura Orochimaru sent off. It was fairly weak. "It should take about five hours to remove itself from your friend." _'Who is this guy and what is his relationship to Sasuke?'_

"I feel like I can't trust you, snake... I think that I'll make the people that you gave your damn seal to a little happier." Immediately, there was a red flame instead of a blue one over his glove and he seemed to slide toward Orochimaru in a blink. He was on the other side within a second. He extinguished the flame and Orochimaru crumpled to the ground. He quickly decapitated Orochimaru's head, placed a preservation jutsu on it, and put it in a leather bag, which he later put into his backpack.

'_Well, I may as well go back to Konoha and hand in his head. No doubt that they will be happy that the world is now ever so slightly safer.'_ Naruto said. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke, thinking about a timid blue-haired shinobi for some reason, though he did not know why.

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So Naruto is not dead! But how will the old gang take this? Will they accept him, or, believing that he is from some other part, try to stop him? And most importantly... How has Hinata fared through these five years? Find out next time in Chapter Seven: Lunchbreak at the Ichiraku! 


	7. Lunchbreak At The Ichiraku

Hey guys, it's-a me, ... uh... me!!! It's another chapter for you guys!

To tell you the truth, I didn't really think that this chapter would be this long. It's a little more than six pages. Some of you may have noticed that Naruto's outfit is much like K's (pronounced K dash) outfit in the SNK game King of Fighters. I basically took his outfit and slapped it onto Naruto. I think it would look good on him though.

There is a bit of humor in this chapter. I just had to throw it in there. We can't really expect Hinata to not daydream, right?

I don't own Naruto or King of Fighters. Please read and review.

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Chapter Seven: Lunch break at the Ichiraku 

Hinata was now at the Shinobi Monument. She knelt down and slowly tears began to form. She let them down unhindered. Hinata could feel the painful memory of the worst day in her life burning in the back of her mind.

_**Flashback**_

Hinata quickly approached the Konoha gates. Naruto's team had just gotten back. She got to there and only saw two genin instead of the usual three. None of them were smiling.

"Ano sa, Sakura, where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. Sakura simply looked at her, then back at Sasuke. He nodded.

"Hinata, we need to talk to you. It's about Naruto." Sakura said.

"Why? Did something... happen? He didn't do anything... stupid, did he?" Hinata inquired. Inside, Sasuke and Sakura felt that Hinata knew what had happened to Naruto. Perhaps she was just acting like it wasn't true.

"No, he did not do something stupid, at least not by your standards," Hinata decided that he would be at the hospital and started to go down towards it. Until Sasuke finished his sentence, "And he's not in the hospital either."

"Then what happened?"

"... He died." Sasuke activated his Sharingan. "And I have these to prove it."

"You killed him?" Hinata yelled out. It was rare that she talked out loud.

"No, I did not kill him. Not intentionally at least. He pushed me out of a ring of exploding notes and fell off of the bridge." _'I was too weak to save him... I killed him... because of me being too damn weak...'_ Sasuke contemplated, a deep frown grew onto his face.

"No... Naruto-kun... h-he can't... he promised me..." Hinata fell to her knees and cried. Sasuke and Sakura knelt down to her.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-san, but sometimes, promises can't be kept."

_**End Flashback**_

She snuck a look at the necklace her Naruto-kun gave her exactly five years ago. She held onto it without plans of letting it go. Not for a long time. "Well Naruto-kun, at least you are respected now in Konoha." Hinata whispered. She continued to cry again. A man who was admiring his sunglasses picked up all this crying.

'_These sunglasses are pretty cool. Not like Shino's or that closet pervert's. Nope, these sunglasses are one of a kind, made by me, Uzumaki Naruto.'_ He was admiring his work of art. He had made the sunglasses to be able to see through genjutsus. So far, with this wonderful pair of sunglasses, he has been able to see through and counter each and every one of them, turning the genjutsu against the user. Now, all that was left was using it against the Mangekyou Sharingan, which he was saving for if he ever got into a fight with Itachi.

However, it was cut short when his acute hearing heard the cry of a woman. He took a sniff, smelling tears and pinpointing the direction of the crying. _'I would never had been able to hear or smell her if the Kyuubi never tried to get out of me.'_

When Naruto was fifteen, about a month after he fell off of the bridge, the Kyuubi sealed inside of him wanted out. It began to attack Naruto's mind and it would not have been long until Naruto would have been overtaken. His body and clothing was the first to change.

Any clothing that he had ever worn in his life, with the exception of undergarments and shirts, had turned black. Shortly after the transformation, he never wore a shirt underneath his leather jacket. Any jacket he had worn turned into a black leather one, and his pants became black jeans. He no longer wore sandals, but black shoes. As for the necklace, he had no idea as to how it got there. It seemed to have materialized out of thin air. A red metallic-looking glove began to form over his right hand. His skin became a dark tan and it hid the whisker marks on his cheeks very well, but the seal on his stomach was still there, but that changed too. It was now the Japanese kanji for kitsune. You could only see the whisker marks if you looked at the face for a very long time. His muscles began to change to a very toned form, though not bulging. His hair and voice were the last to change. It turned from its regular blonde color and spiky style to a dazzling silver with a nice messy look while his voice became deeper, that of a man. Naruto later found out that this was the human form that the Yondaime squared off against when the Kyuubi demon attacked. Luckily for him, it was just the body that did the changing.

Naruto may have lost his body to the Kyuubi, but not his mind. He would never surrender control to the Kyuubi, and now, he was in total control of his new body, which was much better in many ways than his previous one, and he could tap into the Kyuubi's chakra at will. In the end, it was the Kyuubi's loss. He could summon foxes to help him and even transform into his true demon form if the need to do so arose.

Now about the glove: It was a rather interesting piece of equipment. No matter how hard Naruto tugged, the glove never came off. It was like a piece of his skin, though it was metallic and kunais and swords can't even scratch it. But Naruto was still in the process of solving the mysteries behind it. It was gray before it turned red.

What had happened was that, shortly after the Kyuubi fused with Naruto, he was trying to create a new jutsu when he accidentally lit his left hand on fire. Using the gloved hand, he, through reflexes, grabbed his burning hand. The glove quickly absorbed the flames, not leaving a single burn mark on his left hand or the glove. The glove wasn't even warm from the fire. Naruto decided that, though it had led to some interesting results, he would put off making jutsus for now. But a little more than a day later, his glove had turned red after a bright light engulfed it. During the transformation, which took about ten seconds, his right hand felt as if it was stabbed by a thousand kunais.

The glove was able to use fire without the need of hand seals; all he needed was to focus a small amount of his chakra into the glove for it to be engulfed in flames. It was rather useful in a pinch. When he used his regular chakra, the flame burned blue. But when he used the Kyuubi's chakra, it burned red. It was a rather strange glove, but, other than ten shurikens, three kunais, three exploding tags and a smoke bomb, it was the only piece of battle equipment he needed during the five years after taking a trip on a bridge in the wrong manner.

Naruto began to move toward the position of the crying woman. He was in the forest, sleeping. When he left the forest, he saw Hinata, crying. _'Hinata? Is that her? Why is she crying... and why does it... hurt to see her cry?'_ Each sobbing cry was like a poison, slowly working its way to Naruto's heart. He quickly shoved the thoughts from out of his head and walked towards her. _'I better hide my real identity from her. Perhaps I can find out a few things that happened so far.'_

"Hey, what are you crying over?" Naruto called out. Hinata turned around and saw Naruto, though she didn't know it was he. With a small yelp, she quickly found herself behind the Shinobi Monument, blushing like a tomato and tapping her index fingers. _'What's wrong with me? I haven't been like this for years! And I only did this in the presence of Naruto-kun! WHAT'S GOING ON???''_

'_Same old Hinata.'_

"N-nothing. I'm just visiting an old friend of mine."

"Oh. And who might his old friend be? If I remember correctly, this stone is where the name of the shinobis who died for the success of their missions is engraved here. Was he your lover?"

"Well, I was his lover. I don't think he really noticed me, and I was never able to tell him," She walked out from behind the stone. "He was a good man. I really loved him with all my heart. I come here everyday," Somehow, seeing Hinata like this caused Naruto much grief. "Tomorrow will mark the fifth year of the day of his death." Naruto quickly wiped a tear that had managed to escape from underneath his sunglasses. Not only was he hurting because Hinata was crying, but also because it hurt him that the man failed to realize that she had really loved him.

"Such faithfulness, even to a man who is dead. May I mourn with you for your friend tomorrow?"

"Umm... sure. I see no harm in that..." After all this there was a short pause. Then, remembering her manners, she spoke up again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've forgotten my manners. My name is Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hello, Hinata-san."

"Hinata. Just call me Hinata." There was an awkward silence. "So what's your name?"

"My name is Kawasaki Hatori. I'm actually a travel-nin, going places and all." He jerked his head toward his fairly large green backpack. Hinata, however, was in deep contemplation.

'_Kawasaki Hatori. THE Kawasaki Hatori. THE Demon Shinobi? Why is he at Konoha? He may be a travel-nin, but like Sasuke said, I'll try to play it safe. But I already gave him my name... I'll just have to be careful from here on out.'_ She thought.

"It is nice to meet you, Hatori-san."

"Personally, I respond more often to Hatori." Naruto said. "So, Hinata, want to go for lunch? It's almost noon." As if on cue, Hinata's stomach growled. Blushing a little, she gave him her verdict.

"Yeah, lunch sounds perfectly fine."

_**Later**_

'_I have NO crazy idea as to how Sasuke was able to deal with fan girls for the many years of his life...But since their out chasing me, that means that Sasuke must have gotten married to Sakura.'_

"So how do you know your way around this place so well?" Hinata asked. Naruto had just managed to avoid his own fan girls. He would never understand why they chased males around. They had been following him for the last thirty minutes, asking for a kiss, a peek under his sunglasses, bearing his children, and the list went on. He had just managed to lose them via a route that he knew from his genin years.

"Well, I have been here before, being a travel-nin. So I vaguely remember this place. Now if I'm right, there should be a place around this corner that serves some nice ram...en" Naruto had just walked around the corner to see the Ichiraku twice as big as he remembered it. Even without their best customer, they were doing just fine. Hinata just blushed and became timid again, tapping her index fingers.

'_This was Naruto-kun's favorite place to eat.'_ She thought. She then saw Naruto's, or in her case, Hatori's, hand wave in front of her face.

"Hinata, are you there? Let's take a seat." She sat down next to him, giving a deep blush. "Today, lunch is on me." He smiled. _'I haven't had ramen for the last five years. Though I now enjoy other foods, I think I'll take a trip down memory lane.'_ He looked at the chef. It was the same old man. Naruto smiled. "Ano sa, Oyaji! Give me a Miso Pork ramen, please! What do you want, Hinata?" He turned to look at her through his sunglasses.

"I'll have a Shrimp ramen." She stated quietly. _'Hey... since when did I start to talk quietly again? What's going on with me today?'_ She did her best to ignore the thought and began to eat the ramen in front her.

"I'll have a Miso ramen now." The chef looked at the twenty-year old man. Without a second thought, he whipped up another course of that wonderfully delicious stringy stuff for the voracious young adult. Right under the chef's very eyes, the noodles seemed to vanish completely as if by genjutsu.

"Give me a... hmm... now which one haven't I had for a while..." he took a look at the menu. The old man simply sweatdropped and Hinata simply giggled at Hatori's antics. The last time he had a customer who ate this much was exactly five years ago, right down to the day.

Lunch would continue like this until there were ten bowls piled up next to Naruto, all of them empty. Hinata just had one. Naruto paid for lunch, which he had taken out from his own new fox wallet, which was filled to the brim with cash though it never really seemed to show it. Yes, even his wallet had changed, thanks to the Kyuubi.

"Thank you for paying for lunch, Hatori."

"Hey, no problem. Want me to walk you back home?"

"That would be nice." Hinata said. They left the Ichiraku, heading back to her apartment. They talked about many things, like the ninja revolutions, recent movies, and the common hatred of Jiraiya's perverted books. He would have led her to the Hyuuga estate, but by playing it safe, he chose to follow her lead.

"This is it. Thanks, Hatori." She stopped outside of the apartment complex.

"No problem. I guess I'll meet you here tomorrow morning then. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be familiarizing myself with this place and evading crazy fan girls." Hatori began to walk away from the apartment complex. Hinata was looking at his backside with a deep blush. Hatori left in the direction of the Hokage building, planning to get a look at how things have changed and to drop off a package that would bring joy to the many citizens of Konoha.

'He sure has a nice butt... Oh My Gosh! What am I thinking??? I'm not a hentai! Not a hentai!' 

Hinata, instead of going inside of her apartment complex, ran to find Sasuke. With her Byakuugan, that wasn't very hard. When she found him, she ran up to him and began to talk, her face still blushing and the thought of Hatori's wonderfully nice butt etched in her mind.

"Sasuke! pant You know the guy you told me about his morning?"

"You mean that Kawasaki Hatori? Yes, I remember, why?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, it appears that he has come to Konoha."

"NANI?!?"

"He says he's a travel-nin and that he's been here before. But there's something... strange about him. When he saw me crying over Naruto-kun, he said that he felt saddened by the site and asked me if he could mourn with us tomorrow."

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him that he could. Could you please tell Neji-nii-san, Tenten-nii-chan, Lee-san, and the Rookie Nine about this when you find them? You guys are coming tomorrow, right?" Hinata inquired.

"Alright, I'll do that. Of course we're coming tomorrow. Plus, this guy could be really dangerous." Hinata then left. _'So... Kawasaki Hatori. We meet at last. Perhaps we may be able to see who truly deserves the title of Demon Shinobi.'_

Meanwhile 

Naruto had taken a little walk to the Hokage's office. Girls were following him everywhere. _'I can't stand them anymore! I need a way to throw them off!'_ He thought a bit and then simply gave up. He couldn't think of an idea without revealing his identity or harming them, which, though very tempting, was not his goal as of right now. And genjutsu was out of the menu; doing so could alert the shinobis on guard. _'I wonder how Hinata's doing... Huh? How did that get in there?'_

Having reached the Hokage's office, there were a few guards here and there.

"Halt. State your purpose."

"Here." Naruto reached into his backpack and pulled out the bag with Orochimaru's head in it. He tossed it to the guard who caught and opened it. He almost dropped it from shock.

"T-This... This is Orochimaru's head! Who are you? And how were you able to defeat Orochimaru?"

"Well, let's just say that I'm not your normal shinobi." With that and a foxy grin, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. The guard quickly ran to talk to the Hokage.

* * *

Naruto's back, and this time, Hinata's clueless as well!!! So how will Hinata deal with the thoughts of Naruto's sexy butt? Find out next time in Chapter Eight: Catching Up On Old Times! 


	8. Catching Up On Old Times

Aha! It's another chapter by me! I want to thank all of my reviewers, I am glad that you all like my fic. There will be a bit of humor in this, though probably not as much as the last chapter. Now to deal with a few things.

Hikariko: Naruto will start to check out Hinata in this chapter.

TimeSifter16: Naruto only heard her crying, not when she said his name. I know it seems lame, but it's my story, so what I write, goes.

DragonMan180: I completely forgot about Tsunade and how she would take the death of Orochimaru plus the arrival of Naruto! Thank you for reminding me. Kudos for you. (I'm serious.)

A/N: Also, I have read somewhere (I don't remember if it was from a review or not) that dobe doesn't mean idiot. In fact, the real spelling is tobe, which means dead last. I'm not sure who told me this or whether it's true or not, but from here on out, until i get confirmation, i will be using tobe, unless i forget.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

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Chapter Eight: Catching Up On Old Times 

"WHAT!?!" the voice screamed. Later, it would be the known as the day when everybody in the Hidden Village of Konoha heard a roaring Tsunade. Or it could also have been the day that there was proof that the wretched Orochimaru died. The guard took out Orochimaru's severed head to prove it.

"It's true, Hokage-sama. Orochimaru is dead."

"... I can't believe it." Slowly, a smile formed on her face. "We must have a celebration. And lucky for us..." She looked at a calendar hanging from her door. It had a picture of palm trees on it. "The Jounin Exams are tomorrow. We can announce it then and celebrate after the exams. We haven't been able to hold one in the last two years because of Orochimaru running the Sound village. It was a bit brave to have one right now, but we needed to boost morale." There was a knocking on the door.

"Hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke wants to see you."

"Send him in! I'm in a good mood today, though it is quite odd to see the same person twice on the same day..." Sasuke walked in. "If it's about your cursed seal, then it's confirmed. Orochimaru is dead." He walked in and saw the severed head lying on Tsunade's desk. He couldn't help but smile a little. However, it vanished when he remembered why he came.

"Hokage-sama, you know who Kawasaki Hatori is, right?"

"The guy who lead all of those Ninja Revolutions in those villages, right? Yeah, you told me about him." She was fumbling around, looking for some keys to a safe she had. "Aha! Found you!" She took out a key. Slowly, she lifted a tile off of the ground. There was a safe underneath. "Today calls for a celebration!" She inserted and turned the key, opening it to reveal a hidden stash of sake.

"Well, Hatori is in town." Tsunade suddenly stopped moving.

"WHAT!?!" She got up and turned to face Sasuke. Perhaps today would be known as the day where Tsunade's loud voice was heard twice in the hidden village of Konoha.

"He's in town"

"He's in town?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama, he is in town." Sasuke rolled his eyes. They were wasting his valuable time asking stupid questions.

"Is there anything I should know? What he'll be doing tomorrow? Where he's staying at?" There was worry in her eyes. She could, no, would not let this village crumble from a revolution.

"Well, Hatori will be joining us in the mourning for Naruto, Hokage-sama. He asked Hyuuga Hinata if he could come." Tsunade was now sitting in her chair.

"We will have to keep a close eye on him, though that may be difficult, as we have no idea where he is right now. He might even be using Henge to hide himself. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I want you to tell everybody who will be coming with us to the monument tomorrow. That should include Jiraiya-sama, Iruka, Kakashi-sensei, the Rookie Nine, and Neji's old genin team." Sasuke answered.

"What about Konohamaru and his friends?" Tsunade inquired.

"They won't be back until evening tomorrow. They don't need to know. Besides, they're only chuunin and don't stand a chance against him if he is as powerful as fabled to be."

There was a bit of silence. "Alright. You two are dismissed." Tsunade closed the safe. Sasuke and the guard left the Hokage office. She was no longer in the mood for drinking. _'Damn it, there just seems to be more crap piling up every day. What does it take to keep a village like this safe? I hope he's just visiting.'_

_**Later That Day**_

'_Wow... that Hatori is hot.' 'I wonder if he's single.' 'I wonder what his eyes look like underneath those sunglasses.' 'He sure has a nice butt too...' 'What am I thinking?!?' _These were the thoughts that were running through the head of a certain blushing blue-haired shinobi, who had pale lavender eyes. Hyuuga Hinata was slowly walking home towards her apartment after dismissing her genin students. Since she was no longer the heir to the Hyuuga clan, she had been kicked out, much to the discontent of her father, Hyuuga Hiashi. It was heard that he threw a fit on the day they disowned her by a vote of nine to zero.

Hiashi was a good man. After seeing how much Hinata had improved within the next three years after Naruto's death, he had realized how bad a father he had been to her. He managed to salvage the broken relationship with his eldest daughter while keeping the relationship with Hanabi going strong. In the end, he had been able to turn himself around and walk the good and narrow path.

However, the clan council saw the refusal to take up the position of heiress as a sign of weakness, and, even though she was very strong, they disowned her. On the day before her release, Hiashi had snuck into her room and left a note. On it said the directions to her new apartment and how he had managed to slip a hefty sum of money into her bank account, which he made for her. It also told her to leave as soon as possible and over the wall instead of the front gates and suggesting to take only the clothes that would be on her back when she left, if she did not want the cursed seal to be put on her. Besides, the money that he put into her account would be more than enough to buy back three times as much than what she left behind. In fact, the interest on the money in the bank was more than enough to allow her to live without working, though she took up a job anyway.

As she approached her apartment, her mind began to wander. _'I wonder if Hatori likes me back... STOP IT HINATA!!! YOU LOVE NARUTO-KUN TO DEATH!!! LITERALLY!!!'_ She shook her head and stepped inside. After making a small dinner, she sat down on the couch and began to think about the day's events. _'Meeting Hatori. Running away from fan girls... with Hatori. Eating lunch... with Hatori. Talking about things... with Hatori. Just plain ol' thinking about... Hatori's butt... Darn it!'_ Hinata quickly grabbed her blushing head and shook it vigorously. She took a deep breath.

'_Since when have I been unable to think about anything but Hatori or his butt? His sexy, firm, wonderful butt... GAAAHHHH!!!! Quit being a hentai, girl! You're not Kakashi!'_ Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She concluded that she needed to take a shower and go to sleep to clear things up within her head.

After doing so, she felt strangely tired. Perhaps it was the day's events, like staring at Hatori's butt. She was about to flop down on her queen-sized mattress when she saw two scrolls on it. Her father's name was spelled out in kanji on one of them. She quickly opened it up to read it.

_Hello Hinata,_

_Enclosed here is the Hyuuga's greatest jutsu. It is the sole reason as to why many outsiders try to steal our secrets. Only we can use it. It is called the Revive Jutsu. No one in our clan has mastered it for over three hundred years. However, in order to be able to use this jutsu, it is said that the user must have a pure heart. I believe that this is the sole reason as to why we haven't been able to master this jutsu. But if anyone can do this, it's you. The instructions are on the second scroll. If you can learn this, than there is no way that the Hyuuga council can keep you out of this family._

_Be warned however. Even though it revives people who have died, it will only work if used within five minutes of their death. Even then, you need to have physical contact with their body. So don't bother trying to revive Naruto with it._

_Speaking of Naruto, say hello to him for me tomorrow. He was the son of a good friend of mine. When I think about it, I would have been glad to have him as my son-in-law. Neji says that he'll be there tomorrow too._

_Hyuuga Hiashi_

She put away the letter and opened up the other scroll. It had the hand seals written on it and how to do the jutsu. Feeling tired, she decided that she would just glance over and vaguely remember the instructions. She would figure out the rest tomorrow. No, she would not figure it out tomorrow, for that day was reserved for her Naruto-kun. She would figure it out on the day after. Finally putting the scroll down, she lied in bed and put on the covers and fell into a troubled sleep.

_**Hinata's Dream**_

'_Wow. Hatori sure looks so hot. I really would like to see his butt again...'_ Hinata thought. _'He looks even hotter in just his boxer shorts, now only if they weren't ther-YAMETE!!! You love Naruto-kun! ... But Hatori looks so sexy right now... AARRGGHH!!!'_ Right in front of her stood Kawasaki Hatori, the new guy in town.

In his boxer shorts, but still with his sunglasses on.

'_Aw man... not another nightmare!'_ Hinata tried to turn away, but she could not. Her face was burning red. Hatori took a step closer. He was now five feet away from her. Hinata began to sweat bullets. _'I hope he doesn't come any closer... CRAP!!!'_ Much to her dismay, Hatori took a few steps closer.

He was now right in front of her. He was now a little less than a foot away from her face. Hinata got a good look at him. From the looks of it, Hatori was about five feet and ten inches tall. He was a head taller than her and a little taller than Sasuke. Slowly, he began to lean in. Hinata, against her own will, began to lean in and blush deeper. They were six inches away from touching lips. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. _'NNNNOOOOOOOOO! I CAN'T DO THIS!!!'_

_**End Dream**_

"NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!" Hinata sat up in her bed. Her bed was drenched in a cold sweat and she was panting. It was already morning. She buried her face in her cream-colored hands. It was another nightmare. Even though the many fan girls of Konoha would have loved, probably even killed, to have had this dream, it was a nightmare to Hinata.

Hinata had been having strange dreams ever since her Naruto-kun died. Most of the good dreams were being kissed by Naruto, being married to Naruto, and having her first child with Naruto and naming them. Sometimes, the dreams she had were quite... arousing and caused her to question her own innocence more than once.

But there were also the nightmares.

The nightmares usually involved seeing her life if she had married someone else. Sometimes it would have her getting married to Sasuke, Chouji, or, and Hinata always shuddered at the thought of this, Jiraiya. These dreams would always end up with Hinata waking up with her bed drenched in sweat and her gasping for the life-giving air.

But this was the first time Hinata had a nightmare with Hatori in it. She was freaked out and had run to the bathroom and splashed ice-cold water onto her face. She needed to get as far away as possible from Kawasaki Hatori. And that had to happen fast. No, forget fast, it had to happen now.

Hinata quickly showered, dressed in mourning clothes, and ate breakfast. When she put the dishes into the sink, she heard a knock at the door. Had she remembered what she had said yesterday, she would have gone out the window without a second thought. Sadly, life seemed to have granted her short-term memory loss for that minute.

"Ohayo, Hinata! Ready to go?" Hatori, who was really Naruto, was wearing the same black clothing he wore yesterday, in the same fashion. His jacket was half zipped, and, since he no longer wore shirts, it left a bit of his well-toned chest for a blushing Hinata to stare at. "Umm... I never knew I would say this to a girl... but Hinata," He pointed a finger toward his head, "my face is up here."

"Oh!" She reluctantly tore her eyes off of his chest and, blushingly, began to stare into his sunglasses. _'Shoot! I forgot that Hatori was picking me up!'_ "Yeah, I'm ready. But before we go to the monument, let's pick up the rest of my friends." They went and stopped by the houses of their friends, picking up each of them to travel to the monument. At each stop, Hinata introduced Hatori to her friends. But each of them already knew who he was since Tsunade had already told them.

'_Wow. Things have really changed since the past five years. Hinata looks more beautiful than ever, the girls are married to the ones they love, Hinata's single, Kakashi is later than ever and is married to Kurenai, Hinata's hair is looks really soft and smooth, Iruka's married to Anko, I really feel like kissing Hinata on her luscious lips, Tsunade seems to look younger if possible, Hinata has a VERY nice pair of brea-... WAIT A MINUTE!!! Since when did I start to think of Hinata like this?'_ Naruto quickly shook his head to rid himself of his rather... interesting thoughts about Hinata. _'DAMN YOU ERO-SENNIN!'_

Hinata, seeing Hatori shake his head, asked, "Is something wrong, Hatori?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm thinking perfectly clean thoughts! I'm not a hentai!" Hinata just blushed and gave a nervous giggle. Eventually, Hinata had picked up all of her friends. They consisted of Lee, Neji and Tenten, the Rookie Nine, Kakashi, Iruka, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, each of them dressed in black. _'I'm seeing a lot of old faces today. Who is this guy we are mourning for anyway? I need to check up on Sasuke...I don't think I can do that yet though. I have to look inconspicuous.'_

Hinata then led the group to the monument. Naruto, but Hatori to everyone else, stayed in the back. There was silence for a few minutes until Sasuke decided that he should be the first to speak.

"Well, tobe," Naruto's head jerked up. He distinctly remembered Sasuke calling him and only him tobe.

"It's been five years." Sakura continued. Naruto did some quick counting with his shiny internal calculator, compliments to the Kyuubi fusing with him. In other words, he actually started to use his brain in a more educational, less life-threatening manner. One, two, three, four, five. It had been five years...

"Since you left us." Neji said. It had been five years since Naruto fell off of the bridge.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata finished and started to cry.

_Snap._

What is the sound of one's shiny internal calculator breaking into many shiny pieces? Well, that was the sound of one's shiny internal calculator breaking into many shiny pieces. At least it that was the sound for Naruto's shiny internal calculator breaking into many shiny pieces.

Everything was beginning to make a lot of sense now. Why Hinata was sent to comfort him that day five years ago. She had literally opened her heart up to him that day, and yet he still had no idea. Why she was always so timid and nice to him. Why she always blushed and looked away from him when she looked back. Why she had given him the medicinal cream after his match with Kiba during the chuunin exams. _'How could I have been so stupid and blind? I left a girl here in Konoha and she's become a wreck! I think it's time to set a few things straight.'_ But before he could, Naruto felt something else.

Naruto was confused. He suddenly had a strange feeling towards Hinata. Was it love? Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was the reason as to why he was thinking so much about Hinata. Perhaps it was the kind of love for someone else that went deeper than just friendship. He was not sure on what to do, but decided that it would be a wise decision to trust his feelings. _'How could I have been so stupid to not realize this? And to think, that all this time I was chasing after Sakura, there was someone waiting for me to acknowledge her! The irony in it all, it's all just so damn funny!'_

Neji's head cocked up from looking at the monument. Behind him, coming from Kawasaki Hatori, the Demon Shinobi, was a small chuckle.

* * *

Uh oh, Neji doesn't seem very happy. And did Naruto lose it all after realizing how stupid he was? Things don't look too bright. A brawl is coming out! Next Chapter: Mock Not Konoha's Greatest Clans! 


	9. Mock Not Konoha's Greatest Clans!

Hey all, I'm BACK!!! I just want to thank everyone for their support and reviews. Now, I must respond to a few reviewers of mine.

TimeShifter16: Don't worry, Naruto is going to kick Neji's ass in this chapter. However, he won't be confronting Hinata until chapter eleven.

Hikariko: I'll try to keep that in mind. A lot of reviewers say that. Thanks.

S-Wanderer999: Don't worry, Naruto will be giving out hints here and there.

DragonMan180: Book burnings? Maybe in a later chapter. Thanks for your suggestion.

I"m not sure if I made Naruto a little bit to powerful. Anyway, Naruto will not be revealing himself in this chapter.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

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Chapter Nine: Mock Not Konoha's Greatest Clans! 

Slowly, the chuckling grew into a vile cackle. Neji, being the arrogant man he was, the anger slowly began to consume him. "What the hell are you laughing about, Hatori? Is there something that you would like to share with us?"

"Hahaha!" Speaking did not come easy. Trying to keep a straight face, he continued. "It's just that you guys are pfft Ahahahaha ooph!!! Hahahaha!!!" Naruto, in his fit of laughter, fell backwards onto the ground and just kept laughing. He was clutching his stomach and rolling around, his loud voice piercing through the deathly silence that was looming around him.

Neji, now trembling with rage, decided that he needed a way to vent his anger. He too disliked Hatori, since he was taking their job when it came to helping the ninja revolutions. Seeing him in this state, he came up with an excuse. Even though he was not Kakashi's pupil, he was damn good at coming up with excuses. "You dare mock the Hyuuga Clan?" Hearing this, Hinata looked up at Neji.

"Neji-nii-san, I'm no longer a part of the Hyuuga Clan. You don't have to do this." She said. There was a small trail of tears from her eyes.

"You may not be a part of the Hyuuga Clan anymore, but I will defend my cousin!" Neji then got into the famous fighting stance of the Hyuugas: Jyuuken. Sensing the intent, Naruto rolled backwards and got up from the ground. The smile had left his face and was replaced with a sinister smirk.

"So, intending to get a fight out of this, are we? Well, two can play at that game." Naruto got into his own stance. With a surge of power, he created a blue fire made up of pure chakra surrounding his red glove, his intention being to test how much stronger Neji had gotten. The air around it was rippling from the heat. Neji was the first to make a move, simply aiming to paralyze. Being an esteemed Hyuuga Clan member, had memorized all of the body's Tenketsu points, and thus rendered, except in some occasions, the Byakuugan useless. But, much to his dismay, Naruto simply dodged all of the attacks and back flipped away.

When he was far enough, Naruto lifted up the foot that was in front and pushed the heel lightly into the ground. If he pushed into the ground with his full strength, not only would it leave a fairly small crater, it would cause the attack to increase in size and power tremendously with a chance of seriously harming Neji. He then got into his stance again. Neji charged forward and, to his surprise, a small pillar of blue fire exploded out of the ground. He leapt back, but was a little slow. His left sleeve was on fire. He patted it out with his other hand. Slowly, the fire retreated back into the ground, leaving no sign that it was there earlier. "Give up yet, Neji?" Naruto taunted.

'_Damn it! He already hit me and he didn't break a sweat! If it continues like this, I'll be toast! I have to settle this fast...' _"You're in the range of my divination." Naruto already knew this move and, knowing that he could withstand them, decided to take the hits. Neji charged forward. "Two Strikes! Four Strikes! Eight Strikes! Sixteen Strikes! Thirty-Two Strikes! Sixty-Four Strikes of Hakke!" Naruto was sent flying about ten meters, crashing into the ground.

"Don't bother trying to get up. I've sealed your Tenketsu points."

"I'll get up just to prove you wrong." And much to Neji's dismay, he got up. "It'll take more than that to defeat a dropout like me." Neji could have sworn that Naruto gave him a wink. It was a serious case of déjà vu for him. There was no sign of struggling to stand up either. Suddenly, Naruto had vanished and reappeared right in front of him. Using his left hand, he lifted up Neji by his neck. Engulfing his right hand in the blue flames, he landed nine fast, flaming punches to his stomach, each one being a blur of black with the tips blue. On the last hit, Neji flew out of his hand and ended up hitting a tree, causing it to crack and splinter.

Sasuke, however, had no intentions of letting Neji have all of the fun, nor did he have the intentions to watch one of his close friends get hurt. After what had happened to Naruto, he promised that no one he cared for would ever die in front of him. He would protect them with his very life. He began to approach Naruto.

"Sasuke, do not interfere with the affairs of the Hyuugas." Neji coughed out. He could barely stand through the burning pain. How could nine simple punches cause so much pain? The attack really hurt, but he could tell that Hatori had held back a lot of his power. If he went all out, he would be sure that his body would have much more than a bunch of burns. If Hatori hadn't gone easy on him, he probably would have died.

"Hinata is a close friend of mine, and I won't let this Hatori bastard make fun of her. Plus, he mocked my clan too. And that I can not forgive." _'I'll just tag along with Neji's excuse to see who's truly worthy of the title of Demon Shinobi.'_ Sasuke activated his Sharingan. _'Since Neji's Sixty-Four Strikes of Hakke didn't work, I'll use the Chidori.' _He quickly made some hand seals. A ball of lightning was formed in his right hand.

With a smirk, Sasuke began to run with lightning speed. He thrust his hand forward into Hatori's chest. There was an explosion, sending smoke everywhere. Knowing that Hatori was defeated, he tried to take his hand out of his chest. However, he could not. The smoke began to clear.

Right in front of Sasuke stood Hatori with a smirk on his face. Sasuke then took a look at his hand. It didn't seem to do anything. It did not go through the skin. It did not even go through the jacket. Naruto looked down at Sasuke's hand, then to his face. He rolled his eyes, though no one saw it, and sighed. "Pitiful. Is this the best that the famous Uchiha Sasuke can offer?" He was holding Sasuke's wrist and, using his gloved hand, gave a flaming flick to Sasuke's forehead protector with his finger.

Ptiinnnnnnggg.

Sasuke found himself rolling on the floor about twenty meters from Hatori. _'Damn, that's a lot of chakra in his finger!'_ He had a small burn mark on his forehead protector.

Naruto walked up to a tree. "Be glad I held back on you, teme." He held up a rock on the ground and flicked it towards a tree. The tree shattered like glass and the stone continued on its path, destroying several more trees in the process.

'_As much as I hate this cursed jutsu, I have to use it if I want to prove I'm better than him.'_ Sasuke stood up and prepared his Sharingan for the ultimate genjutsu: the Mangekyou Sharingan.

_**The Moonlit Underworld**_

The world went into a swirling circle and Naruto suddenly found himself tied to a tree. Sasuke was in front of him. "In this world, I control time and space. You will now be stabbed for seventy-two hours." Raising his sword, Sasuke plunged it into Naruto.

Only to receive a painful feeling in his stomach. Looking down, he saw a trail of blood making its way down from his stomach.

"What the hell?" Sasuke was in deep confusion. _'Why am I tied to a tree when Hatori is down there with a sword and... ... oh... shit...'_

"Since you control time and space, then why are you tied up to a tree? From here on until the seventy-two hours are up, you will watch your Sakura-_chan_ die many, many gruesome deaths." Right in front of Sasuke materialized a Sakura and a cloaked man. The mysterious figure pulled back and stabbed Sakura many, many times. She fell to the ground, bleeding. Instantaneously, another Sakura was seen falling down a cliff, landing among the jagged rocks on the bottom.

"NO!!! Yamete! YAMETE!!! Onegai, just stop it...onegai." Sasuke sobbed began to cry. He soon passed out, his head hanging. There was a bit of saliva sliding down from his mouth.

'_Now I know that my sunglasses have been perfected. They're very nice indeed. I wonder how he was able to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan though. From what I heard, you must kill one of your friends to get it. Perhaps since he saw me 'die,' knowing Sasuke, he thought that he killed me unintentionally. Oh well. Seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds of torturous fun to go.'_

_**The Real World**_

Everyone saw Sasuke crumple to the ground and knew what he did. But nobody had any idea on how Hatori had reversed it. Slowly, Sasuke got up, panting with the Sharingan eyes still activated. Tears could be seen leaking out of them. _'How did he know that I love Sakura-chan? Do I know him? Or, perhaps, does he know me?'_ Sasuke was deeply confused. Everyone else was awestruck and had thoughts running through their minds.

"Who the hell are you? And how were you able to counter my Mangekyou Sharingan?"

"Simple." Hatori answered. There was a smirk on his face. "I am the Demon Shinobi, teme." Sakura was now fuming. Neji, confused how Naruto had reversed the Mangekyou Sharingan, turned on his Byakuugan and took a look at his eyes. However, all he could see of his eyes was a lot of chakra swirling in the frame of a pair of sunglasses. He also realized that all of his clothing was reinforced with chakra, all the way down to his shoes and necklace.

'_So that's how he was able to survive my Sixty-Four Strikes of Hakke and the Chidori. The clothing acts like a piece of impenetrable armor.' _Neji turned to Kiba. "Hey, can you get your dog to analyze this guy?" When given the order, he saw Akamaru sniff the air and give off a few startled yelps. Akamaru then tucked its tail between its legs and hid behind Kiba.

"He... He says that this Hatori smells like a fox and that he has a huge chakra capacity, even greater than Hokage-sama herself." There were a few more barks. "But he also says that his chakra signature seems very familiar, but he simply can't identify who he is." Kiba found it hard to believe that someone this powerful and young existed. But what he couldn't believe was that the guy smelled like a fox, yet his chakra signature was familiar. Dogs, though very helpful, can be very strange.

"What the hell is wrong with you? We are mourning for our lost friend! Why the hell are you beating the crap out of Neji and Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said.

"They wanted a fight, and they got it." Naruto answered. He spat on the ground. Hinata then spoke up in a determined voice that Naruto had never heard her use in his life. To him, her voice was angelic, yet commanding.

"We may not be as strong as them, but we are going to take you down." She saw Naruto look up with his sunglasses reflecting the sun.

"You may have defeated those two, but can you handle the rest of us?" Kakashi inquired, lifting up his headband to show the Sharingan he had for his left eye. Slowly, everyone got into a battle stance, even the oldest of them. Hinata charged first. She immediately tried to seal off some of his Tenketsu points, but noticed that, no matter how many times Naruto could strike back, he did not.

Confused, she leapt back. _'Why doesn't he fight back? He seems... reluctant. Is he already attached to us? No, he attacked Sasuke and Neji-nii-san. Something else is holding him back.'_

'_Damn, I don't want to hurt them anymore. And I definitely don't want to hurt Hinata-chan. What should I do?'_ A thought came to mind and a foxy grin grew onto Naruto's face. He then disappeared in a black blur, leaving everyone else to wonder where he had disappeared.

"Hey, where did that bastard disappear to?" Kiba said. Suddenly, he felt a few quick jabs on his shoulders. He tried to move his body around, but he discovered that he was stuck where he was. He looked around and discovered that no one else could move either, including the jounin senseis and the sennins. "What the hell did you do, Hatori?" Kiba bellowed.

Naruto then materialized in the spot where he disappeared. "I struck some of you're pressure points, so none of you guys can move any thing below your neck, though your organs will still function. It'll begin to wear off in about ten minutes." He was about to continue speaking until the sound of a kunai slicing through the air cut him off. With lightning quick reflexes, Naruto turned around and caught it between his index and middle finger on his gloved hand.

"Demon Shinobi, I have found you! Say a few words, for they shall be your last!"

* * *

Uh oh, who's this new guy? It looks like he's got a bone to pick with Naruto. It's another battle, this time against a different enemy. Discover the outcome in Chapter Ten: Hurt My Friends And Die!!!


	10. Hurt My Friends And Die!

Hey All! I'm back from wherever I came from! Thank you to all who have reviewed my story. Now for a few questions.

Dragon Man 180 and taekmkm: No, it's not Gai. I sort of forgot how I would work him into the story. I'll see if I can find a way to do so.

AkiaBinZaid: I torture you because it's my job as an author: to keep you on the edge.

TimeShifter: No, Naruto did not kill Sasuke, as mentioned in your review. However, the Akatsuki play a vital role in this story towards the end. What happens, however, I'm not too sure myself. Suggestions will be gladly accepted.

irukapooka: Don't worry. Everyone asks stupid questions every now and then; it's simply normal. Teme means idiot. Also, while I'm still on the topic, in japanese, urucei does not literally mean shut up. It translates into 'you're loud,' which implies shut up. To say shut up literally, you say 'Ga ma re.'

Bakutiku: Tenten will not make an appearance in this chapter, though there will be more some more NejiTen moments in the future.

Warknyte: No, it's not Konohamaru. In chapter eight, Sasuke says that he and his team were on a mission and thus will arrive during the late evening. So Konohamaru is not here yet.

I do not own Naruto or King Of Fighters.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Hurt My Friends And Die 

A shinobi with a lightning forehead protector jumped out of the trees surrounding the shinobi monument. He wore a green ninja outfit. He looked no older than twenty-five.

"Hey, Hatori." Neji called out. He was still unable to move his body.

"What do you want?" Naruto heartlessly called out.

"Do you know this guy?"

"Nope. I have absolutely no idea who this guy is." He said in an attempt to try to keep a low profile. Before Hatori could continue, he was cut off by the mysterious shinobi.

"I am the son of the former Raikage. My name is Oda Mashimoto. You threw my father into jail. Prepare to die." Said Oda. Naruto just shrugged and paid no attention. He had to drop the charade of not knowing who he was.

"Your dad deserved to get sent there. He did a crappy job of running a government. In fact, I don't think he even knew what a government was. I went easy on your dad. I could have killed him, you know."

"Shut up and die!" Oda got into a fighting stance. Naruto simply waved his hand in an I-don't-give-a-damn fashion.

"Alright. I'll give you three tries to hit me with everything you've got before I start fighting back. And I'm not going to pull any punches either."

"You'll wish you hadn't." Oda charged forward and began to toss a flurry of punches and kicks. Naruto blocked and evaded each and every one of them. When Oda stopped, Naruto did a back flip and landed about five meters away. Slowly, he put up his index finger.

"One." His finger lit up with the eerie blue chakra flame. Oda quickly did some hand seals.

"Lightning element: Lightning Wave!" Many streaks of lightning began to emit from Oda's hands and began to move towards Naruto.

'_Crap! This attack may hurt my friends around me! Looks like I'll have to pull out a few tricks! I think I'll use one that those two can't copy...'_ Naruto brought his right hand across from left to right in a sweeping manner and a barrier of blue flame formed, effectively covering him and his friends. However, fire is not necessarily the best shield to block lightning. Most had bounced off and hit trees, but one pierced through and hit is right hand. Naruto was expecting to feel pain. But he did not expect to see his glove to absorb the electric jutsu. Putting the thought off for now and focusing on Oda, who's face was full of shock, he now stuck up both his index and middle fingers, both lit with the fire. "Two." _'At least everyone's okay, though I did not expect my glove to absorb it... Eh, I'll figure out how to work it sooner or later.'_

'_Was that a jutsu? He didn't even use any hand seals! Kuso, what did we get ourselves into? What is up with that glove of his? And why can't I copy any of his techniques?'_ Sasuke thought.

Now Oda was in deep trouble. _'Kuso! It looks like I can't even scratch him. It's that damn glove of his; it keeps giving me problems... But if I can't hit him, I'll hit those around him to try to get an opening.'_ Quickly, he began to reach into his shuriken holster and pulled out three kunais. He threw all of them at the same time. One was heading to Naruto while the other two were going towards Sakura and Hinata.

'_Shit! He's aiming for my friends!'_ Naruto thought. _'I'm going to kill this bastard. If I save Hinata-chan, then Sakura dies, and vice versa. It appears that my shield won't cover them from it... It looks like I have no choice but to go all out on him.' _Naruto caught the first one and began to do his job of saving his friends. _'I hope they don't start freaking out.'_

'_Oh no!'_ both Hinata and Sakura thought. _'I can't move, and there is a kunai heading straight towards me! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'M GOING TO DIE!!!'_ They both closed their eyes in anticipation of the cold steel slicing them into a leaky piece of meat.

The kunais never hit them.

Hinata and Sakura opened slowly one eye, then their other to see a kunai three inches away from their faces. Right before their very eyes, it was crushed into a thousand pieces and fell to the ground like dust. But they were more focused on what had done the crushing of the kunais.

It was a silky red-orange tail while the last foot of it was white. They traced the tail towards the section of the back just a bit above the pants line. They both counted nine tails, each about fifteen feet long and two feet wide. The kitsune tails started out thin and gradually got wider towards the end. Hinata and Sakura looked up to the backside of Hatori's face. It no longer had human ears, but it had little red-orange fox ears coming out of the top of his head. Who the hell was this guy, and what was with the freaky fox accessories?

"Holy crap." That was the only thing Sakura could say. Even then, she could barely speak straight.

"Holy crap is right." Hinata agreed. The other younger ninjas simply had no idea what had just happened.

However, the older ninjas' jaws were simply hanging from its hinges, save one.

'_Naruto? Is that him in front of me?'_ Iruka thought.

'_I thought he died! What's Naruto doing here?'_ Kakashi's mouth would have been hanging had the mouthpiece not been there.

'_Is this a genjutsu?'_ Tsunade inquired herself.

'_Naruto sure has changed.'_ Jiraiya was simply smiling after quickly recovering. What could he expect? Naruto was his student for a while.

Naruto was filled with rage. "I was going to let you live. But you," He had trouble keeping his feelings in check, "have decided to drag my friends into this, and that... is unforgivable. Now, you'll find out why I am the Demon Shinobi, the hard way." Naruto bit down on his left thumb and dabbed his left index and middle finger with the blood. Using his right hand, he opened up his jacket and streaked his left hand down his seal. Three red foxes with three tails came up out of nowhere. They were a little taller than Naruto.

"What do you want, boss?" one of them asked.

"I want you three to protect my friends. I don't know what this guy can pull off, but better safe than sorry." Naruto signaled his head towards the area where is friends were paralyzed. The younger generation was shocked that he could summon three foxes of that size and by the fact that they were summoned to protect them.

"What about that guy?"

"I'm going to kill him."

"You're not going to use that move, are you?" said another.

"He damn well deserves it. Besides, it's quick and painless, he won't feel a thing." Naruto then took off his sunglasses, revealing his blazing blue eyes to Oda, but to no one else. "All of the people who have seen my eyes have not lived to see another day. Consider it as my farewell gift to you." Naruto got ready to attack. "Oh, Kakashi, Sasuke," He summoned a red ball of fire into his right hand, the flames consuming his glove, "don't bother trying to copy this move. You can't." Oda was trembling in fear. Nobody knew how Naruto could have moved that fast. They only saw what happened after.

Naruto was on the other side of Oda, standing perfectly still with the nine tails of his constantly fanning around, emulating flames. His right hand was still on fire. His left slowly put his sunglasses back on. A small trail of red flames died down in the grass, revealing how fast he moved to the other side.

"And what did you do to me?" Oda asked. He looked himself over. There did not seem to be any visible damage.

"Neji," Naruto ordered. "Use your Byakuugan on him." Neji, knowing that he was in no position to argue, complied. Using the Byakuugan, he saw that there was an oddly placed small ball of chakra next to Oda's heart. Naruto turned around and extinguished the fire in his hand. The ball of chakra exploded, instantly destroying Oda's heart and killing him. He fell forward with a bit of blood running out of his mouth. Neji deactivated his Byakuugan out of surprise and trembled in fear.

The foxes Naruto summoned, seeing that they were no longer needed, vanished into thin air. Naruto took a deep breath and sighed. "I really wish I didn't have to kill him though, but he attacked you guys, so he deserved it. Well, at least it was quick and painless for him." Naruto said. Other than the four older ninjas, no one talked nor dared to even have their hair move an inch out of the fear that Naruto would kill them.

"Who... no... what the hell are you? And why do you keep acting like you're our friend?" Neji yelled out, his voice riddled in fear. Suddenly, Jiraiya started walking to where Naruto was standing. It seemed that no one realized that the ten minutes were up. Slowly, they started to move their limbs. The first thing they did was back away a few feet from Naruto.

"It's nice to see you in one piece," Jiraiya started. A smile was evident on his face. He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "How's life, you crazy baka?"

"It's getting along okay I guess, Ero-sennin. It feels good to be back where I belong. I was wondering how long it would take for you guys to find out that it's me. In a way, it was kind of funny." Naruto turned around to face Jiraiya, giving him a smile. Naruto took a look at the younger generation. "And from the looks of it, it seems that they still don't know who I am."

"Jiraiya-sama!" Neji called out. "Don't go any closer to him! He could kill you!"

"I know he can do that, Neji, but I also know that he won't." Jiraiya spoke over his shoulder.

"But you don't even know who he is!" Sasuke bellowed.

"Sasuke, he's just a guy called Kawasaki Hatori." Iruka hushed Sasuke, smiling a brilliant smile. A silent tear was making its way down his face.

"But you guys know this man by his real name." Tsunade said.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi finished, who was simply reading his book: Icha Icha Paradise Nine. Naruto took a good look at it and felt himself blow up with rage.

'_Damn you Ero-sennin! When are you going to stop writing those damn books? One day, when you're not looking...' _Naruto then thought of many ways to get back at Kakashi.

The younger generation shot a look at Naruto, still in his true demon form. He slowly slid off his sunglasses and put them in the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He opened up his eyelids to reveal his piercing blue eyes. "Uzumaki Naruto; now that's a name I haven't been called for five years."

* * *

So, after much fighting, Naruto has finally revealed himself. How will the team take this, and what will their reactions be? And will Hinata get a heart attack after discovering that she had been checking out Naruto for the past day? Find out next time! Chapter Eleven: Ninja Fan Girls: The Greatest Evil! 

A/N: My next update may not be for a while, since I am still trying to get their reactions right.


	11. Ninja Fan Girls, The Greatest Evil

Muahahaha! I'm back with another wonderful chapter! I would like to thank all of my reviewers. When I posted chapter ten along with the first chapter of Kyuubi Personalities, I was amazed by the amount of reviews i recieved. The day after I posted them, my inbox had 21 new emails. 1 was from xanga. The other 20 were reviews for my stories. Quite a lot. Thank you, once again. Now some responses to my reviewers.

Timeshifter: I know that I wrote tobe instead of dobe, but to tell you the truth, I heard from a friend, who is Japanese, that it's actually tobe and that dobe was probably due to a mishearing. Though I'm not sure, he's Japanese so I'm going to use tobe for now until I get furthur confirmation. Besides, they sound the same, so I don't think really matters.

DragonMan180: His friends will find out about the Kyuubi in the next chapter. And worry not, fangirls won't can't lay a finger on Naruto! And about the hitting thing... you'll find out in this chapter.

Irukapooka: Don't worry, there will be no NaruxSaku in any form. She's married, remember?

And now... ONWARD!!!

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

A/N: WARNING!!! You are about to see what is perhaps the longest run-on sentence on To all of you grammar people, I purposely left it in here.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Ninja Fan Girls, The Greatest Evil 

The younger ninjas simply stared in disbelief. There, right in their very presence, was a perverted old man with long white hair who wrote perverted books that was talking to some guy whom the younger generation was currently confused about, a perverted man who married to a woman that greatly despised perverts and was reading a perverted book that was written by the perverted old man with long white hair who wrote perverted books that was talking to some guy whom the younger generation was currently confused about, an old woman who looked no older than twenty-five with strangely large breasts and was a good friend of the perverted old man who had long white hair who wrote perverted books that was talking to some guy whom the younger generation was currently confused about, and a sane married man who married a somewhat psychotic woman, who had recently been released from Orochimaru's cursed seal, and would have been more than happy to have been the perverted old man who had long white hair who wrote perverted books that was talking to some guy whom the younger generation was currently confused about so he could hug the guy whom the younger generation was confused about, each of them saying that some guy that was supposed to have died five years ago by falling off of some bridge in the Wave Country was now standing right in front of them. Not necessarily the most believable crew in the world. Influential they may be, but not necessarily believable.

"Damn, I really don't remember the sun being this bright." Naruto squinted. Having worn those sunglasses for five years straight left his eyes to get acquainted with its old enemy: the sun. Amazingly, his skin around his eyes was the color of his skin on every other part of his body.

"I don't believe that you're Naruto!" Sasuke yelled "Prove it to us!" All of them, minus the four older ninjas, did not believe that he was Naruto and nodded.

"Alright, I'll do that." He quickly did some hand seals with a grin. Iruka having, put on a face of pure terror, recognized these seals and quickly turned away out of the fear of getting a horrendous nosebleed. So did Kakashi and Jiraiya. "SEXY NO JUTSU!"

In front of the ninjas, there was a naked, beautiful girl. She had white hair in pigtails and had a light tan on her skin with nine kitsune tails and a cute pair of kitsune ears with brilliant blue eyes. She also had a red metallic glove on her right hand. "Please, don't stare at me like that." She timidly said, a blush slowly creeping up her face. The seven male shinobis immediately began to bleed from their nose and hid the blood under their hands and turned away. The girls simply sweatdropped and, after seeing their lovers with nosebleeds, they hit them. All except for Hinata, for she was horrendously confused.

"Okay, okay! We know you're Naruto now! Just turn off that damn jutsu!" Neji screamed through the bleeding. Radiating a great smile, Naruto undid his jutsu, though he was still in his demon form. _'I was expecting Kage Bunshin! I can't believe Hinata fell for such a pervert! If this is going to be my brother-in-law, then he better not keep using that damn jutsu! Otherwise, it'll be hell on earth for me!' _Neji thought. Then he felt something strange radiate from Sakura, Ino, and Tenten.

'_So Naruto's still alive!'_ Inner Sakura yelled. Then Sakura felt a strange feeling.

'_Great, so much for watching the clouds... At least he's alive though. I hated watching Hinata just cry there...damn that stupid jutsu.'_ Shikamaru thought.

'_I am SOOO going to kill him for ditching us, especially Hinata!'_ Ino thought. Then she felt a strange feeling.

'_The loudmouth is back. Hinata will be happy now...damn that stupid jutsu.'_ Kiba thought.

'_Mm... chips. I wonder if Naruto will treat us to ramen later...damn that stupid jutsu.'_ Chouji thought.

'_Tobe's back!!! My old friend is back!!!... Damn that stupid jutsu!'_ Sasuke thought. He then felt something strange emanating from Sakura, Ino and Tenten.

'_All right! Naruto's back! Hinata is going to be SO happy now!!!'_ Tenten thought. Then she felt a strange feeling.

'_Excellent, a new sparring partner...damn that stupid jutsu.'_ Lee thought.

'_So... I came here for nothing except to get one hell of a nosebleed...damn that stupid jutsu.'_ Shino thought.

'........._Huh?'_ Obviously, complex thinking didn't come to Hinata at that point in time.

"You know, Naruto," Sasuke started. He crossed his arms.

"No, I do not know, Sasuke. Do tell, unless your forehead protector would like to have a date with my finger." Naruto threateningly waved his flaming finger in the air.

"We would beat the crap out of you for ditching us for five damn years if we could just catch you."

"Whatever Sasuke. Whatever."

There was an awkward silence. "So..." Naruto began an attempt to have a conversation with them. It didn't get very far. "What have you guys been doing for the past five years? ... Guys? ... GUYS???" Naruto asked. He did not get an answer.

Instead, he felt something incredibly strange. He had never felt this feeling before, save yesterday. Was it killer intent? No, it was not that. In fact it was much worse than that. It was much worse than that by many times over. One who had been to hell and back would probably rather go back to hell than face what Naruto would in a few short moments.

Luckily, Neji and Sasuke knew what that feeling was. Luckily, Neji and Sasuke was not their target this time. Unluckily, Naruto was both clueless and their target.

Poor Naruto.

Naruto turned to see three starry-eyed girls, who, after figuring out that it was Naruto, were simply staring at him absentmindedly. He immediately sweatdropped and his many tails froze in place. Sasuke decided to give him a head start before them.

"Hey, tobe."

"Yeah, teme?" He shakily replied.

"Run." Naruto, having no idea what was going on, would have been glad to follow Sasuke's advice if he knew what he meant. Being clueless like he was, he just stood there. Though he wasn't that stupid anymore, he was still a little thick headed and he took that as an insult.

"Alright, that's it. You're getting the finger." Naruto then began to slowly walk to Sasuke, his finger emblazed with fire, his tails slowly fanning about.

Once again, poor Naruto.

Suddenly, he remembered his dealings with Orochimaru. He was about to ask Sasuke to turn his head so he could check, but he was cut off by something else.

_Snap_

"**_KAWAII!!!_**" All of the kunoichis of the younger generation within the vicinity yelled, save a blue haired beauty with lavender eyes that Naruto had to mentally slap himself to think cleanly about her. Naruto's fox ears lowered themselves to help silence the sound, but to no avail. They just screamed too damn loud. His finger was no longer on fire.

'_Damn it, I am SO SCREWED!'_ Naruto's eyes were clenched shut.

It was the Fan Girl Intent. Naruto would be screwed for life if he did not take care in this very interestingly dangerous situation. And apparently, after realizing that Naruto currently resembled a very fluffy, cute, and cuddly fox with nine tails, it had awoken after several years of not having to chase after their lovers.

"Can we touch your tails? It looks so nice and soft!" Sakura said.

"OOOHH! You have such cute ears! Can we touch those too?" Ino screamed.

"I like those whisker marks on your cheeks! You look so cute like that!" Naruto had no idea how Tenten could see his whisker marks. He determined that, since he was in his demon form, they would naturally be more visible.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Yes, very, very poor Naruto.

In this strange situation, Naruto had forgotten that he could have just turned back into his human form. But he was smart enough to at least start running before the three kunoichis could have a chance to violate his tails, ears, and whisker marks. Sadly, the three crazed fan girls also gave chase with the somewhat violent intent to get a chance to violate his tails, ears, and whisker marks.

His savior, however, was being a little slow in the thought process today. But no one could really blame her. Seeing as how she had to cram this whole lot of new information into her brain which, as of right now, wasn't really functioning properly at the moment. After all, seeing a miracle like this that would have left most too stunned for words, much less proper thought patterns.

'_Okay, let's try to think about this in a somewhat mathematical manner: If Naruto-kun is equal to Hatori, and if Hatori is equal to Naruto-kun, and since I love Naruto-kun, then it is perfectly fine to love Hatori, who is equal to Naruto-kun. Yup, makes sense to me, just like how one plus one equals four or how gravity makes you fall up.'_ She quickly gave chase. Forget being slow, complex and logical thought simply did not want to grace Hinata today.

But still, poor, poor Naruto.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"NARUTO-KUN!!!!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH-OOMPH!" Suddenly, the kitsune shinobi was no longer in front of the three crazed fan girls. Instead, he was seen rolling along the ground being glomped by a certain blue haired kunoichi. When they stopped, Hinata found herself on top of her long-thought-lost Naruto-kun and feverishly began to plant kisses on his face, her face being a blur of red.

"/kiss/ YOU'RE /kiss/ BACK /kiss/ NARUTO-KUN!!! /kisskisskisshug/... /kiss/" She began to blush even more when she managed to see Naruto's whole chest revealed to her while holding onto him now that his jacket was unzipped. But no matter how embarrassing the situation was she told herself that she would not let go, not when she was this close to him after not knowing he was alive for five years. Naruto gave her a hug and used his tails, which had somehow managed to unfreeze themselves, to wrap around Hinata and bring her closer to him.

"Well," He gave her a kiss on the forehead, still seeing a few stars here and there and something that somewhat resembled a halo on her head, which was actually caused by the sun, his eyes' old enemy. She had definitely become stronger over the years. "Good morning to you, too, my Hinata-chan. Did I ever tell you that you look like an angel? You look cute with the halo on your head." Hinata blushed even deeper.

'_He must be seeing a few things. I think I hit him too hard. I hope Naruto-kun's okay.' _Hinata thought.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry that I never realized that you loved me. But I also realized something: I think I love you back and I am willing to give this relationship a try. So... will you be my Hinata-chan?" He gave her another kiss to the forehead and brought his hand to her cheek, causing her to go into another deep blush.

'_He just called me his Hinata-chan! He called me an angel! YES!!! I'm Queen of the World!!! But he only thinks he loves me back. But that'll change over time.' _"Of course I'll be your Hinata-chan." Smiling, he used one of his soft long tails and brought it along her neck, causing her to stain her cheeks with a bright red once more. She started to laugh a real laugh, one that she hadn't done for a long time.

"Hey!!!" She giggled. "Stop that! It tickles!" Naruto simply began to use all nine of his kitsune tails to slowly tickle her to death. "Hahahaha!!!" She was squirming uncontrollably on top of him. He then stopped, hugged her, and gave her a nice, long kiss on the lips.

"Wow, I haven't seen her that happy for a long time." Neji commented in an awe filled voice. Naruto and Hinata just stayed there, giving each other nice long kisses on the lips, drinking in the wonderful ambrosia that they had to offer for each other.

When Naruto was about seven years old, he often wondered what it felt like to be loved. To receive hugs and kisses on the cheek from loved ones. It was the first time that Naruto had actually been kissed by someone that he wanted to kiss, and that person wanted to kiss him back. And it was also the first time he had passionately kissed someone, not on the cheek, but on the lips. In truth, a lot of things happened to him for the first time in his life in that moment, most of it involving kissing. The technique behind it was especially new to him, but he planned to get the hang of it sooner or later.

"Ahem." Tsunade coughed, trying to get the new couple's attention. No use. "A-choo!." She tried again, this time sneezing and making it a little louder. It was a fruitless attempt. A prominent vein was pulsating on her head. "HEY!!! STOP THAT FOR A SECOND, WILL YOU??? SOME OF US ARE GETTING OLD AND WILL GET A HEART ATTACK IF YOU TAKE THIS TO THE NEXT LEVEL!!!"

Naruto and Hinata stopped their... foxing around and shot a looked up towards Tsunade. Naruto's tails were loosely wrapped around Hinata.

"Whew. Now that I **finally** have your attention, we have a lot to talk about. Let's go to my office, shall we?"

"What about that Oda guy?" Naruto asked.

"Let the ANBU deal with him. I think that this is more important right now."

_**The path to Tsunade's Office**_

"You can set me down now, Naruto-kun. I can walk, you know."

"Yeah well, a beautiful girl like you shouldn't have to walk, Hinata-chan."

Naruto had decided to not put his sunglasses back on, revealing his bright blue eyes. Instead, they were in his inside pocket. He was holding up Hinata with his many tails in the shape of a large mattress. She was lying down on her stomach on the makeshift mattress playing with his ears, earning something that sounded very much like a purr from Naruto. The tails were like nine extra fluffy and long arms when you needed them. Everyone trooped to Tsunade's office. Naruto and Hinata were given strange stares while they walked through the streets of Konoha. Its citizens were having strange reactions and thoughts.

Here are some of those thoughts: _'Isn't that the Hyuuga girl who promised to stay a virgin for some guy called Naruto?' 'Is that Naruto? ... No, that can't be him, because he's dead.' 'Red pill, or Blue pill? Hmm...' 'AHH!!! FOX HUMANOID THINGUS!!! RUN!!!... Wait a minute.' _were just some of the many thoughts that went through the villagers' heads today. Besides, it wasn't everyday when the people of Konoha saw a strange fox humanoid supporting his girlfriend, who was playing with his kitsune ears and trying to kiss him every five seconds, with his nine kitsune tails.

It had actually attracted a lot of unwanted attention, mostly from fan girls who were head over heals for cute, fuzzy and cuddly things, like fox tails. But Hinata, who was on Naruto's nine tails like a queen, deterred most of them. This left the few brave ones who had approached Naruto, offering him kisses, a peak under his glasses, to bear his children, etc, causing Hinata to fume like a smokestack. He simply shrugged them off and kept walking. When they got persistent however, he simply lit his glove with red fire, effectively scaring off the rest.

"So, what are we going to talk about, Tsunade-obachan?" They had finally arrived at the Hokage's office. In the past five years, of all of the things he could have forgotten, he still did not forget to call her obachan. A vein was threatening to explode from her forehead.

'_Still the same old Naruto.'_ Tsunade thought. "Not we, but you. You've got a lot of explaining to do, mister."

"Explain what?"

"The reason why you have nine tails, a pair of kitsune ears, and whiskers on the side of your face, to be blunt. Oh, and why are you dressed up like that? After you do some explaining, then I need to tell you something." Tsunade started to file a few papers.

"Oh. All right then, you eleven may want to pull up a chair. You might not be able to stand properly after I tell you. I'll treat you guys to some lunch later, if you still want any." He forgot that Hinata was still on his nine tails.

* * *

The secret is going to be revealed, along with another secret! How will the gang react to the fact that Naruto has the Kyuubi inside of him, and what is this other secret? Find out in the next chapter: The Fox Is Out Of The Scroll! 


	12. The Fox Is Out Of The Scroll

Hey, it is I! Thank you for the reviews! You are all an inspiration to me! And now, some responses...

SephyNarutoCloud: I do not know whether your review was a flame, or something else.

TimeShifter: I only made them a bit OOC in that chapter. It's not like you see someone whom you thought died five years ago again everyday, you know.

darkshaman817: I'm sorry for your phobia.

swt-angel-babi3, wun-liddo-babi: I know that this story seems rushed, but I'll try to keep it slower. The story Kyuubi Personalities (Another story of mine) I made so that I could work on making relationships seem real. And wun-liddo, teme means idiot.

irukapooka: I have watched a few episodes of Inuyasha, but I don't really like it that much. I guess it's okay. However, I did take the Miroku thingy from it. I learned of it from another fic.

Byuu128: I have some tentative plans about the revolutions. But I may not go through all of them. Also, I will write about the relationships of the other pairings, though there will be more NejiTen than the others. And, of course, Naruto and Hinata's relationship will slowly grow.

A/N: About my other fanfic, Kyuubi Personalities. I am going to change the title. I will post the new title here and in the other fic when I post up the next chapters, though it will still have the original title until I post chapter four for it. Just a heads up, you guys.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Now read! I command you! Yo mando que tú leas! (That's Spanish for you, folks.)

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Fox Is Out Of The Scroll

"Wait, Naruto, before you begin, we three have a request for you." Sakura said. By three, she meant her, Ino, and Tenten. They still had stars in their eyes.

'_Don't do anything stupid...'_ thought two shinobis.

"Ok, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"MAY WE TOUCH YOUR TAILS AND EARS???" Sakura almost yelled. Naruto lowered his ears to his head once again trying to silence them out.

"Alright, but just this once." He gave in.

'_Wrong move.'_ Neji and Sasuke thought.

"YES!!!" the three kunoichis squealed. They immediately ran towards him and began to pet his tails and ears. It didn't feel as good as when Hinata pet him. Hinata's touch was nice and soft. Their touches were rough and vigorous.

"Wow, its sooo soft!"

"His ears look sooo kawaii!"

"He's like a living pet! You're so lucky, Hinata!" Wrong comment. Naruto positioned his tails so that Hinata was hanging above his arms. Without a second word, he returned to his human form, much to the dismay of the other three kunoichis.

"EEP!" Hinata yelped. As soon as she fell into Naruto's waiting arms, she immediately grabbed onto him. "Try to warn me next time, will you Naruto-kun?" She said in a freaked out manner.

"Sorry Hinata-chan, but I had to get them to stop." He set her on her feet. She immediately felt homesick without the warmth of he Naruto-kun. "Anyway, its time I get down to the explaining." His face turned grim.

"All of you should know the story of the Fourth Hokage defeating the Kyuubi that attacked Konoha. How do you remember it?"

Neji spoke up. "Of course we do. The Fourth Hokage gave up his life to kill the Kyuubi, therefore saving Konoha from total destruction. Why?"

"I see. You've only been told half of the truth. You see, the Fourth was unable kill it. He wasn't powerful enough. So instead, he gave up his life to seal the Kyuubi in a newborn infant. The reason why you've never been told the whole story was because the Fourth Hokage himself made it against the law to do so."

"But who was the child that got the Kyuubi sealed in it?"

"Allow me to channel some chakra." Naruto pulled down the zipper on his jacket and summoned of some chakra. Hinata blushed and diverted her eyes away. "Don't look away, Hinata-chan. It is important that you know." She turned back, now blushing even deeper.

Naruto tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra. Hinata was no longer blushing. Slowly, before everyone's eyes, the seal, which was the kanji for kitsune, began to form on his stomach. Everyone could feel a sudden boost in the chakra that Naruto had. "Neji, use your Byakuugan and tell me what you see."

Neji quickly activated his Byakuugan and took a look at Naruto. He trembled as he spoke. "I see what looks like a fox's face staring back. What is it and why is it inside of you?"

"Simple. That is because the Kyuubi is sealed inside of me. This is also the reason why I look and dress this way. When I was fifteen, the Kyuubi wanted out and fought for control. I lost my body and it changed to this one, but my mindset was still the same. I am still the same Naruto." Naruto once again transformed into his demon state. He took a good look at everyone and a smile was tempted to crawl onto his face. _'Their looks are priceless right now.' _But another thought pushed the temptation to smile away. Pushing back the feelings of emotional pain, he continued his story.

"This was the reason as to why so many people hated me. When I lived at the orphanage, no one would adopt me, no one would even come near me. Hell, even the staff at the orphanage wouldn't let the kids play with me. And, even though the Fourth Hokage ordered that I was to be seen as a hero, I was hated and despised instead. They saw not me, but the demon I carried. And in the end, the hatred from the parents had passed onto the children." A silent tear had managed to escape. He quickly brushed it away.

Naruto decided to let the entire information soak in before he started talking again. His lip was trembling a little. "Well, now that you know who I am, I won't blame you for not wanting to be friends with me anymore." His head slowly began to tilt itself towards the ground. To his surprise, an elegant cream-colored hand was lifting his head up to stare into a pair of pale lavender orbs.

"Naruto-kun, we will always be your friends, no matter what. And nothing will take that fact away from us." Everyone, after regaining their bearings, nodded and murmured in agreement. "Among our group we have a dog lover, a bug fanatic, a woman who has anger problems, a lazy bum, another man with eating problems, a girl who likes to throw things, a man who looks too much like someone else, Mr. Coldhearted, a girl with no special abilities, and two people with strange eyes." She zipped up his jacket for him, but only up to a little more than halfway; they way he wore it. "In a strange way, you complete the circus, Naruto-kun." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. In a strange way, it made Naruto feel better.

"Well," Tsunade spoke up, finishing up a few papers. "Now that you have told everyone, I have something for you, Naruto."

"What is it?"

"Here." She handed him a scroll. "It would be better if you read it than if I tell you." Naruto took a look at it. Written on it said 'From the Fourth Hokage to Uzumaki Naruto.' He opened it up, still in his fox form.

_Dear Naruto_

_I know that it is strange for me to say this. I know that it sounds highly improbable, especially after twenty years of living in the dark, but please, just read on._

_You are my son._

_I have told the people to treat you like a hero. You have taken on a burden, which no one should ever have to carry. But knowing how shallow-minded they can be, they probably have despised you for a long time. I'm sorry if they have caused you pain._

_I gave you your mother's name so that you wouldn't grow up into a spoiled brat. Your mother's whereabouts are currently unknown. I'm sorry that I cannot tell you more than that._

_I do not expect you to stay after reading this. If you want, you may leave this village. I, the Fourth Hokage, will allow it. That is, unless you are able to find a reason to stay._

_I love you, my son. Never forget that._

_The Fourth Hokage_

_Kazara Yume_

Naruto was so shocked that he immediately reverted back to his human state. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Again, it was the Fourth's last wish that the current Hokage would tell you that you were the Fourth's son when you become twenty." There were some short conversations and murmurs coming from the younger generation. "Now, have you found a reason to stay in this village?"

"I've always had a reason to stay in this village; to become the Hokage. But now," He looked at Hinata, who holding on to his arm. "I have another reason to stay." Naruto gave her a soft kiss on the lips, causing her face to flush red. "I never had any intention to leave this place. And I never will." A smile grew on his face. "Now that that's out of the way, who's up for some food? My treat." A grumble from his audience's stomach and murmurs of agreement were his answer. "Then let's go!"

_'I guess I'll just tell him after lunch,'_ Tsunade thought.

They made their grand exodus, being the proud and able shinobis they were and simply doing it for the kicks, out of the window, surprising the civilians around them. Naruto started walking off.

"Um... Naruto-kun, the Ichiraku is that way," Hinata pointed in the other direction.

"Nope, not today Hinata-chan. Today, we're going someplace a little bit fancier than the Ichiraku." Hinata simply blushed like a light bulb. She still had trouble adjusting to the fact that Naruto started add the –chan suffix to her name.

The group of shinobis, all together having comprised of Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kakashi, Iruka, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, ended up outside of a nice sit-down restaurant.

During lunch, Naruto was able to catch up on some of the many things that have happened since he fell. Sound invasions, Konohamaru and his friends becoming chuunin, their relationships, etc were all discussed. He was quite amazed that Hinata had made Jounin before everyone else. Tsunade, however, was quite amazed at something else.

"I never knew you had that much money, Naruto. How did you get it all?" Tsunade said. Being the most loud, talkative, number one surprising shinobi out of Konoha, Naruto had managed to surprise Tsunade when he had more money than she had ever lost gambling. In fact, he beat Jiraiya's bank account by many, many zeros. When Hinata saw it, she could have sworn that he had more money than the entire Hyuuga clan.

"Well, when you help out as the head of multiple revolutions, many people will somehow find a lot of ways to sneak in money into your bank account as a thank you. I was surprised when I discovered I had this much. And forget it, Tsunade-obachan. I'm not going to lend you any money to go gambling. Besides, until I take over, don't you have a job to do?" Naruto shot back.

'_Kuso, I was hoping I could weed off some money.'_ Tsunade scowled.

"So what are you going to do now, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"I'm going to go house-searching. Seeing as how my old apartment was probably given away, I've got no place to stay as of right now." Tsunade, however, had other intentions than just to find a way to weed off some money.

"Actually, you won't be having any time to do so. Not until a few days later at least." Naruto simply stared at her.

"Is there something going on that I don't know?"

"Do you still have your Leaf forehead protector?"

Naruto lifted up his gloved hand to show Tsunade the Leaf emblem on it. "Does this count?"

"I guess that's close enough. I won't be needing to give you another forehead protector to enter then."

"What are you talking about, obachan?"

Tsunade simply balled her fists under the table in order to deal with the anger of being called obachan. "I'm talking about the Jounin exams."

"I can pass that easily. Why should I go through it?"

"Sure, you may be a very prominent shinobi, but you still have to take the exam for the people to accept you and to publicly announce that you're actually alive and not dead. I'll instate you as a chuunin for now, but you need to take the exam to see whether you're worthy or not for the title of jounin."

"I see. Count me in then, obachan."

"I already did. Be at the testing stadium by eight a.m. tomorrow."

"TOMORROW?!? EIGHT A.M.?!? What the hell, obachan! You could have told me earlier!"

"I couldn't, that's the thing!"

"But I still need to-,"

"Shut up and stop complaining!" There was no reason to argue. It would have been fruitless to argue against an enraged Tsunade. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some paperwork to do." Tsunade quickly disappeared from the crowd with a poof.

"Whatever." _'Stupid obachan! Signing me up for the jounin exams. And I couldn't even tell her about what happened with Orochimaru! ...Speaking of that snake...' _"Sasuke, can you turn around for a moment? I need to see the back of your neck." Sasuke turned, showing Naruto that the cursed seal had indeed lifted itself from him. "Ok, you can turn back now."

"So... why did you want me to do that?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm just glad that the cursed seal is gone now. Come on, Hinata-chan, let's go." He got up and left the table.

"Hai, Naruto-kun." She stood up and quickly followed after.

Naruto took out his fox wallet and paid the lunch bill. _'I wonder what it'll be like if I get students...'_ He then thought of his students bugging him to teach them jutsus upon jutsus upon jutsus. _'Yup, they'd be just like me.'_ He then left for his old Team Seven's training area with his Hinata-chan.

* * *

The Jounin Exam? How will that go? Will Naruto pass, being the oaf he is? And how will he train on the day before it? Find out in Chapter Thirteen! The Day Before The Big Day!!! 


	13. The Day Before The Big Day

We meet again. Here is the longest chapter so far, reaching a total of eight pages. I thank all of my reviewers for their kind encouragement. Response time!

Manatheron: There will be no attack on Konoha this time. The matches will actually finish.

Byuu128: I will make my own Jounin test.

Nuuuuuu: I am not God, but a simple Fanfic author.

irukapooka: Yes, Konohamaru and friends will make an appearance. However, how often they appear may vary, depending on where I take the story.

Dragon Man 180: No, Naruto will not teach his students the Rasengan on their first day.

A/N: My other Naruto story, currently called Kyuubi Personalities, will be called Encyclopedia Ninja when I post the fourth chapter for it. Just to tell you.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Also, there will be some NejiTen fluff in here. And there will be a bit more in the future.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: The Day Before The Big Day

"Naruto-kun! Onegai, wait for me!" Hinata yelled. Naruto stopped and waited till she caught up to him before he began to walk again. He draped his arm over her shoulder and giving a quick kiss to her cheek. "So, now that you are entered in this exam, what do you think you should train?" _'Though it's not like you need to. From what Akamaru had to say, you're already stronger than Hokage-sama.'_

"Hm..." Naruto didn't answer her question out right.

"Maybe you should work on chakra control."

"No, I took care of that problem a long time ago."

"Then what should you do?"

"I don't know... Say, do you have any idea where Neji and Tenten are? They left sometime in the middle of lunch."

"They said that they needed to deal with a few personal matters. But what's strange is that when they left, they toward the direction of the Hyuuga Manor." Naruto put some thought into this, but then gave up, not about the Hyuuga Manor, but Neji and Tenten.

"... I have the perfect idea. Hinata-chan, I am going to meet your father."

"NANI??? What if they hate you and they say that you can't talk to me anymore? They might end up hurting you! And what about your training? Onegai, don't do this!" Hinata held onto his arm for dear life. She didn't tell him that she was disowned. She wanted to tell her that himself and preferred that he hear it from her first.

"This will be my training. An enraged Hyuuga would be a rather interesting opponent, especially the head of the clan." Naruto looked into Hinata's worried eyes. "Plus I won't hurt them. I'll just dodge the attacks." She still had that worrisome look in her eye. "I'll hide my identity so that they won't know who I am." That seemed to do the trick.

"However, I will also need some inside help from you. Hinata-chan, I want you to make your dad really mad by saying that I was hitting on you." Hinata, hearing that, began to worry once more, almost on the verge of tears.

"But, what if my dad goes all berserk on you? Then what? He'll be so mad at you, and me later when he finds out that I lied to him... and..." Hinata could not continue.

"Well, it's the job of a good shinobi to read what's underneath the underneath. If he can't, then he's got to get his eyesight checked up. And that says a lot, especially if he's a Hyuuga."

_**Outside The Hyuuga Manor**_

Naruto and Hinata were slowly approaching the gates. Naruto decided to go over the plans one more time. "Okay, you know what to do right?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun."

"WOOHOO!!!" A loud voice erupted from inside, freezing the two of them. Neji and Tenten were then seen running out the gates, hugging, kissing, laughing, and twirling with each other.

"Ano sa, Neji-nii-san, what's going on?" Hinata asked. When Neji turned around to answer her, his face was bright and full of happiness.

"Hiashi-sama has just approved of our marriage!" He gave another long kiss to Tenten, who caught it with open lips. Tenten raised her hand to show them the ring that Neji had given her yesterday.

'_It took him long enough to work up the courage.'_ Hinata thought, showing them a smile.

"Well... um... congratulations, then." Naruto added. Neji quickly turned, though still smiling, had a strange feeling that things today might just end up a little ugly.

"I don't mean to be rude, but... why are you here?" Neji enquired.

"Training."

"And this would be what kind of training?"

"I'm going to cause your uncle to attack me in a fit of rage, and I'm going to try to dodge the attacks to my best ability. It's mostly speed and endurance training." Naruto said in a mouthful.

"Hmm... That is a rather... interesting form of training..." Tenten said while holding on to her fiancé. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to look at the other pair.

"Well, if you've got no more questions, then I'll be heading inside." Naruto and Hinata were about to enter the gates. Neji spun around and grabbed his shoulder.

'_I still dislike the main house for putting seals on us, but that's no reason to go on a killing spree. I'll just use this as a harmless way to get back at them.' _"Hey, if you really want to piss him off, you should try to rearrange as many things as you can. He has a rather peculiar sense in cleanliness and symmetry. But be warned: When he's mad, he's quite unstoppable." Naruto simply gave Neji his signature smile.

"I'll keep that in mind."

'_Hiashi-sama might just break something in the house. Hell, he might just destroy the whole place if Naruto isn't careful... or if he overdoes it.'_ Neji thought. After Naruto and Hinata entered the compound with Hinata leading, Neji gave a smirk, in which Tenten, who was giving off a small giggle, gave him a playful slap on the shoulder and a big kiss on the lips.

"We might want to give the hospital a call." Tenten said.

"No, Naruto can take care of himself. I know he can." Neji gave a silent thanks to the man who had changed him.

"Not for him, but for Hiashi-sama."

"Oh..."

_**Inside the Hyuuga Manor**_

Hyuuga Hiashi was having a good day. Why was he having a good day? One: It was a perfect day. There were no clouds in sight and it was a day of moderate temperatures. Two: His nephew is now the fiancé of Tenten, which he was expecting for a while and the wedding would be in a month. Three: The house was meticulously neat and symmetrical. Four: The Jounin Exams are tomorrow, which means that tomorrow would also be a good day. Five: It was a Sunday. Yes, today was definitely a good day. He was now in the living room, reading the papers.

Hinata had entered the living room. After some sneaking in through the window, they had both entered the Hyuuga manor undetected. "Hi tou-san." Hiashi looked up to see his eldest daughter. He gave off a smile.

"Hello to you too, Hinata. What brings you to the estate?" He got up and hugged her. "You know that you're not supposed to be here, especially after you got disowned." Hinata inwardly squirmed. Hiashi knew that Hinata wasn't supposed to be here. Naruto, on the other hand, was shocked. Though he did notice that her father was being nice and caring, he never knew that she was disowned. But he would think about that later. He had to stick to the plan.

"Well, you see-." Hinata was suddenly being hugged from the side by Naruto.

"HINATA-CHAN!!!" Naruto cried out in a loud, obnoxious voice, the one that he used to use before he fell off of the bridge. He was glad that he put up those sound seals. No one would be able to hear them. He took a look at Hiashi, whose eyes seemed to have shrunk in anger. _'Good, it's going according to plan.'_

"Hinata, I need to talk to you **alone**." Hiashi said with a bit of anger leaking out of him. They left by the door Hinata came in. "Who is he?" he whispered. There was no way in hell that he would let his eldest daughter get hugged, or, in his opinion, groped by some crazy buffoon. He almost could not keep his emotions in check. It was so tempting for Hiashi to destroy something, or rather someone who was wearing black.

'_Good, he's gone. It was easier than I thought. Time to get to work.'_ Naruto began, with his amazing speed, to tip things over, making sure not to break them. He also shuffled papers, moved the couches, shifted Hiashi's mug of coffee, etc. He then did a couple of hand seals. "Graffiti no jutsu!" He smiled. Naruto had made this genjutsu to help forge signatures and paintings, which kept the originals from being taken, and many other useful things. But today, his prankster side woke up. And it decided that it was going to have a good day.

"Well you see, this guy has been hitting on me and I really want him to stop. I kept telling him to stop but he won't. And I don't want to hurt him either. So can you do it for me?" She gave him the roundest, biggest, most authentic and influential puppy-eye look. It even had a small tear forming. From Hiashi's point of view, it rivaled, no, plain-out beat Akamaru's puppy eyes when it was still a puppy.

"Alright, I'll do it for you." _'I am such a sucker for those eyes. I'm glad that Hanabi never used those on me. They're like the female Hyuuga's secret jutsu!'_ Hiashi stormed back in. Hinata rendered herself invisible via genjutsu after she was out of sight. She walked in and gasped, almost giving herself away.

Naruto wasn't Konoha's number one loudest, most surprising shinobi for no reason. And it appeared that he intended to keep the title. Inside the living room, it was a pigpen. Papers were shuffled, couches moved, and a vase was on its side. There was not a sprinkle of symmetry or neatness in this room. But that wasn't what got to Hiashi the most. It was what was written. Dripping, colorful kanji were spray painted onto the walls. Here is a rather small list of what was painted that day: Hyuuga Hiashi sucks, Hyuuga Hiashi has no brains, Hyuuga Hiashi has done a poor job of raising his daughter, Hyuuga Hiashi is an old coot, and a few other... colorful words which involved the bashing Hyuuga Hiashi, which were colorful in more ways than just one. _'Tou-san is not going to like this.'_

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOUNG MAN?" Forget interesting, Hiashi looked like a monster when he was angry. "FIRST YOU CHASE MY DAUGHTER AROUND LIKE SOME CRAZY BUFFOON, THEN YOU VANDALIZE MY HOUSE!" Yes, very monstrous indeed.

Hinata took out a digital camera and, making sure it was on shinobi mode, took a few silent snapshots of the room. It was a day to remember. Neji probably would like to see these pictures too. Hiashi then quickly charged at Naruto, though not fast enough to even rival Naruto. Being blinded with rage, he did not see a fold in the carpet. As Naruto got was about to evade, Hiashi's foot got caught and he fell over, hitting his head with extreme force on the floor, knocking him unconscious. Naruto and Hinata sweatdropped.

"So much for training." Naruto said. "You can come out now, Hinata-chan." Hinata ended the jutsu.

"Wow. How did you do the spray paint?"

"Graffiti no jutsu. Though it seems kind of pointless, it does have its uses. I made it myself. Don't worry, it's just a genjutsu." He added the last bit after seeing a worried Hinata. It appeared that Naruto happened to have a strange taste in making useless jutsus that somehow didn't seem so useless when Naruto used them.

"Oh. So now what?"

"We show the pictures to Neji. He would probably like to see them." Taking the camera from Hinata, he took a picture of Hiashi lying on the ground and then they left. They approached the main entrance into the house Hinata stopped him.

"Careful, there are two guards out next to the doors. We'll need another way through." Hinata knew her way around this place.

"Do these doors open inward or outward?"

"I think both."

"How heavy are they?"

"Very."

"Excellent." Naruto moved back about ten meters. He then ran towards the doors, jumped into the air, and delivered a powerful kick to each door, effectively opening them. It hit and knocked out the guards on each side. "Let's go."

_**Later**_

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Neji asked.

"Na, he simply tripped." Naruto said. Neji was taking a look at the pictures taken. A smile lit up on his face when he saw the graffiti on the wall.

"And how did you do the graffiti? It's not permanent, right?"

"Nope, just genjutsu." Naruto replied.

"Here you go: the Ichiraku Special." The old man said, still not knowing who he was. It was Naruto's seventh bowl of that stuff.

"Thanks." Naruto started eating. Over the years, he had managed to pick up a few manners. It was required if you wanted to show respect and not get thrown into a jail cell.

"So where are you going to stay today, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm not sure, Hinata-chan. Probably some hotel."

"Well, if you want, you can stay at my apartment until you find a house." Hinata was blushing and was amazed at her own bravery. Naruto almost choked. So did Neji.

"You want me to stay at your place? Are you sure? I mean, its not that I don't want to, but... are you sure?" Naruto was surprised, but didn't want to hurt Hinata's feelings either.

"Naruto will not be staying at your place today, Hinata. I will not allow it. At least not yet." Neji answered coldly.

"But I just want to talk to him. You know, catch up on old times." Hinata attempted to sway her cousin's decision.

"No 'buts'. Naruto is staying somewhere else and you are not to sleep in the same room as him. And that's final." Neji paid his bill and left.

"Man... what's up with Neji?" Naruto wondered. Hinata just shrugged her shoulders.

"He probably thinks it's a little too early for you to stay at my place."

"Yeah... Want to go for a walk?" Naruto asked.

"Sure."

_**In A Park**_

It was a warm night. Crickets had begun to give off their little concert in the grass. "So..." Naruto had his arm draped over her shoulder. He attempted to start a conversation, "How was your day?" It was almost nine in the evening. The stars were slowly starting to come out. They were sitting on a park bench, simply taking in the beauty of the stars.

"It was wonderful, now that you're back." Hinata said. She put her head onto his shoulder, enjoying the comfort it gave. "What do you think about the Jounin Exams?"

"It should be an easy thing for me." His mind wandered off to his 'training' and remembered how Hiashi said that Hinata was disowned. "Ano sa, Hinata-chan."

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Why were you disowned?" Naruto took a look at the face that was leaning on his shoulder. Her eyes showed pain and sadness. "If it hurts too much, you don't have to talk about it."

"No, you have the right to know." Hinata began to explain. "When I was disowned, I was eighteen. I just became a jounin and the clan council was planning to make me the heir once more. But if I became the heir, then I would have to marry someone. And back then I had no intention of wanting to marry anyone at that time. So I declined their proposal." Tears began to make their way down her elegant cheeks. "But they saw that as weakness and they kept saying that the Hyuugas cannot afford to have any weak members. So they kicked me out." She began to sob.

Naruto did his best to calm her down. "Shhhh... it's okay, it's okay." Not knowing what to do, he shifted his body and gave her a hug. Hinata simply held onto his jacket for dear life. She cried on his shoulder, letting go of the pains she had held for five years.

"It's just that," She gave a sniff, "so much has happened today. You came back, the Kyuubi, everything. It's just so overwhelming." Naruto began to lightly pat her back. It hurt him to see her cry like this.

"Don't cry, Hinata-chan, it hurts to see you like this."

"G-Gomen, Naruto-kun. I just don't want you to disappear from my life again." Hinata sobbed.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan. I'll never leave you, I promise."

"It's good to hear that..." Hinata had managed to stop crying and reduced it to small sobs. Eventually, those too went away. Hinata kept her head on his shoulders. And they stayed like that for a long time, simply enjoying the presence of each other in their arms.

"Ne, Hinata-chan." Naruto took a look at the girl he was holding. She had a small smile on her lips and her eyes were closed. "Hiiiiiiinaaaaaaaaaataaaaaaaaaaaa-chaaaaaaaan." She did not respond. _'She's sleeping... I guess I'll take her home.'_

Doing his best not to rouse her, Naruto put her onto his back and slung her arms around his neck. They instinctively held onto him. He put his backpack slings around his arm to carry it. Naruto then put his hands under her thighs and lifted her up. _'Gosh, she's light.'_ Slowly, he began to make his way to her apartment.

Naruto arrived at her apartment and tried to open the door. But it was locked. _'Hmm, I'll have to pick the door open. I don't really feel like fishing around in Hinata-chan's pockets._' Taking a needle that he kept inside of his backpack, he slowly undid the lock and went in. After locking it again, he set off in search for her room.

'_This must be it.'_ There was a bed in the room. However, since it was dark, he was unable to decipher much about it. Carefully, he set his backpack down and took off her shoes. He did not bother to undress her. It was his resolve, after having two perverted teachers, to not be a pervert. He set Hinata in bed and tucked her in and was about to stand up.

He would have stood up if something were not holding onto him.

He looked around to see Hinata's arms still around his neck. He took a look at Hinata's face. She was still sleeping. Smiling, Naruto attempted to get his head out. But Hinata simply hugged him around the neck, bringing Naruto uncomfortably close to her breasts. He blushed. _'Ok, this is not good... She's not letting go, and I am stuck... here. And I can't do anything drastic because I may wake her up and she might find my head... there... what to do... hmm... If I get caught doing this, I am so screwed.' _If he wished to survive and still get enough sleep for the exam tomorrow, Naruto only had one option.

It meant that he would have to sleep in her bed tonight next to her in her arms. _'I wasn't planning for something like this to happen this early... I guess I have no choice though...'_ Naruto took off his shoes and, still in his day clothes, slowly tucked himself in, careful not to awake his Sleeping Beauty. _'I don't want her to think that we did... that when she wakes up tomorrow.'_ He managed to turn himself so that his back was facing her and set his sunglasses on the nightstand next to the bed. _'I wonder how I'll explain this to Neji tomorrow...'_ Naruto drifted off into slumber, enjoying Hinata's warm embrace.

* * *

It's here. The Jounin Exams are here! How will Naruto fare? But more importantly, How will Hinata and Neji react when they find out what happened the night before? Find out in Chapter Fourteen! The Day After The Day Before!!! 


	14. The Day After The Day Before

Happy Halloween, Chapter for you! I worked hard on Friday to get it out. Thank you reviewers! You are all wonderful. Response Time!!!

Stonebridge: They will find out soon. How soon, I do not know, but Tsunade will know first. About Neji's seal, I do not know what to do about it. He'd have to be Hokage first in order to do anything about it.

TimeShifter: The Akatsuki will make their appearance soon enough.

DragonMan180: I do not know whether I should work in Hanabi or not.

wun-liddo-babi: I know that one month may not seem like a lot of time, but it would be a traditional Japanese one. And since it's traditional, then a lot of the things are already planned out.

AkiaBinZaid: No, Hinata was asleep. I'm going to leave it at that.

A/N: My story, Kyuubi Personalities, has now had its title changed to Encyclopedia Ninja. Please take note of the change. Also, please vote on November 2nd. Also, Kaede is not an OC, but was in one of the Naruto specials. And Konohamaru will make his first appearance here!

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: The Day After The Day Before 

She woke up. Lazily opening one eye, Hinata turned to look at her alarm clock. It was six a.m. She also noticed that she was holding on to something black with white hair. Assuming it was one of her stuffed animal toys, she smiled and hugged it tighter, closing her eyes once more. She liked the warmth coming off of it. It made her feel secure. She could deal with that scroll later.

Wait a minute.

Since when did stuffed animals give off warmth? She opened her eyes, fully awake. She noticed that her 'stuffed animal' was breathing and that its hair was too real. Using one of her hands, she lifted the covers to find that her 'stuffed animal' also had a pair of legs, arms, and was taller than her.

'_Since when did stuffed animals have arms, legs, authentic hair, and give off warmth?'_ It must have been very early in the morning, because it took her a full ten seconds to find out that she was not hugging a stuffed animal.

She was hugging person. And judging by the way their body is built it was a man. She did what seemed natural for a female when she discovered that there was a man in her bed and it was too early in the morning. It didn't even occur to her that they were both fully dressed, minus shoes.

There was one thing that would have seemed most reasonable for a twenty-one year old kunoichi who had woken up with her clothes on who had discovered that she was hugging a man about her age in her bed that also had his clothes on.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" She gave off a high-pitched scream. Naruto woke up with a start.

"Huh? Wha? Where's the ramen?" Naruto groggily said. He sat up and turned around to see Hinata stare at him. "Oh, it's just you, Hinata-chan." He lay down and went back to sleep. He pulled the blankets around him and covered his mouth.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my bed?" Hinata asked. Or, more likely, shouted. It must have been too early for Naruto to notice that her eyes seemed to have shrunk.

"Not so loud, Hinata-chan! I'm trying to sleep here! It's way too early in the morning..." Naruto mumbled through the blankets. He just wanted to sleep.

"Get up!" Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders and held him so that they were face to face. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Whoa!" Naruto swayed around in her grasp. He then opened his eyes. And then he smiled. "Ohayo, Hinata-chan."

"Stop calling me Hinata-mmph." Before she could finish Naruto had gave her a quick kiss on the lips and went back to bed. She blushed, and then remembered that someone she did not recognize kissed her.

"Hentai!!!" She gave him hard slap across the face.

"Hey!" Naruto, now fully awake, said. "What was that for, Hinata-chan? You were perfectly fine about me kissing you yesterday."

"You... kissed... ME?" Naruto's ignorance didn't help the situation.

"Yes, you kissed me and I kissed you back."

"Did you get me drunk?"

"No, you did it on your own free will." Hinata still didn't believe him. Since she had never even came close to touching alcohol, she had no idea what it felt like having a hangover. So she felt that Naruto had lied.

"I'll show you free will!" Running into the kitchen, Hinata grabbed a frying pan and ran back into her room. Emitting her own war cry, she swung the pan at Naruto. It still must have been too early for him to be awake at this hour.

She hit him with the frying pan. But Naruto didn't get hit on the head. He had blocked it with his right hand, leaving a deep palm print and making the pan useless. Hinata took a look at Naruto. His eyes were closed and a faint snoring could be heard. _'Is he really asleep?'_ She checked to make sure. It was true. He had fallen asleep again. _'So he blocked the frying pan... while he was sleeping.'_

She pinched his nose, causing him to wake up. "What was that for, Hinata-chan?" Naruto enquired.

"Who are you?" She asked in a quieter voice.

He stared at her strangely. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I thought you would have remembered." Naruto had seemed to realize the fact that she didn't remember who he was. Hinata was startled.

"Naruto? But he..." Hinata then remembered what happened yesterday. The battle between Naruto, Neji, and Sasuke, the Kyuubi, lunch, 'training,' the park, it all came back to Hinata now. _'Oh no... I just attacked the man I love with a frying pan! Oh no, oh no, oh no!'_ She hugged him and started to cry.

"Eh? Hinata-chan, why are you crying?" Naruto asked.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun," She sobbed, "I-I just attacked you with a frying pan and... and... Oh, I'm so sorry!" Naruto hugged her and patted her on the back.

"It's okay. You weren't in the right state of mind. I don't blame you." That calmed Hinata down.

"Thanks... So why are you here? Didn't Neji say that you weren't supposed to be here?"

"Well, you fell asleep at the park so I carried you back home. Then I picked the lock to get in. So then when I tucked you into bed, I stood up but your arms were still around me. So I tried to get out but ended up in... a worse position." Naruto blushed a little. Then he continued. "So I ended up staying here for the night."

Hinata was relieved, but then remembered something. She blushed at the thought of this. "We didn't do anything... naughty... did we?"

"No, we did not. Why do you think we're fully dressed?" Naruto put on his sunglasses.

"Oh... I guess I didn't think about that... Hungry?" Hinata asked.

"Sure... But I guess you can't make eggs today." Naruto took a look at the frying pan.

"I can make some ramen if you want."

"Yeah... that would be nice." Hinata quickly went to the kitchen and started to boil the water. Soon, there were two bowls of ramen on the table.

"Itadakimasu," they both said. They started to eat. Naruto looked around for a clock.

"Ne, Hinata-chan. What time is it?"

"I think it's about seven o'clock. Why? Oh yeah! The Jounin Exams! We should get going!" There was a knock at the door.

"Ne, Hinata-nii-chan, You awake?" Hinata immediately froze. This was the worst place for Naruto to be in right now. Naruto was now a few meters away from Neji, and the only thing that was separating the engaged-and-soon-to-be-enraged cousin was a door.

"Oh God, Neji's here! You know how you weren't supposed to stay at my place. What'll he do when he finds out?" Hinata, for the first time in a long time, did not know what to do. She knew how to deal with ninjas, but she did not know what to do in this situation.

"Hinata-nii-chan, are you there?" Neji asked. Hinata quickly thought up an answer.

"Umm... I'm naked, don't come in." Hinata said. Then she mentally kicked herself. _'Crap! If he really thinks I was naked, and then he sees Naruto, then he'll think that we... oh dear...'_ Seeing as Hinata was lost in her own thoughts, Naruto decided to deal with the problem the only way he saw fit.

He opened the door.

"Ohayo, Neji." Naruto stared at him through his sunglasses.

_**Testing Stadium**_

Most of the seats were filled. It was the first in a long time since they had an exam. And this time, it was for jounins, so the matches would be a sight to see. Tenten adored the ring on her finger. She had a slight blush on her face. _'I can't believe I'm getting married soon! First thing I'm going to do when I get him in bed is kiss him, and then I'm going to take off his shirt. And then I'm going to kiss him again.'_

Tenten was obviously daydreaming about when she would be able to be alone with Neji in bed. She had plans of being a vicious tiger when it came to lovemaking. Neji deserved it for making her wait so long. She would make him realize what he could have experienced if he married her earlier. Of course, she was a virgin and had no experience at all, but she could learn from books. _'And then I'm going to take my hand and-,'_ Her thoughts were cut short by the loud voice of her fiancé.

"NARUTO!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Neji, is that-," Tenten turned around... to see that Neji was not there. "Huh... strange." _'Now where was I... Oh yes, and then I'm going to take my hand and-,' _Tiger in bed indeed.

_**Hinata's Apartment**_

"God Neji, use your indoor voice." Naruto said. "You could've awoken some of Hinata-chan's nice neighbors." Hinata could have sworn that she felt the floor shake.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE IN HINATA'S APARTMENT!!! DID I NOT MAKE MYSELF CLEAR YESTERDAY?" Neji's eyes seemed to have shrunk to disproportional sizes.

"Indoor voice, Neji."

"YOU THINK I CAN USE MY INDOOR VOICE WHEN YOU JUST SLEPT WITH MY COU-mmph!" Naruto had put his left hand over Neji's mouth.

"Yell out again, and you get a date with my finger." Naruto dangerously lit his right index finger on fire. That shut Neji up good. After seeing how he managed to kill several trees with just a pebble by flicking it with his finger, he was now very afraid of Naruto. Or, which seems more likely, he was afraid of Naruto's finger. "Now, before you go blabbing your mouth, your cousin still has her innocence."

"But you still slept in her room. I told you not to."

"But I couldn't do anything about it, you see-,"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULDN'T Do anything... about... ... it..." Neji soon lost all ability to speak when he saw a flaming finger slowly approaching his forehead.

"I wasn't kidding about the finger part." Slowly, Naruto raised his hand to give Neji a flaming flick to the forehead. Neji clenched his eyes, waiting for the pain to hit him.

Silence.

Neji opened his eyes to see that Hinata had grabbed Naruto's arm and caused him to lower it. "Naruto-kun, please don't hurt Neji. You're going to be late."

"Alright, but first," Naruto turned to face Neji, "one day, when you least expect it," Naruto flicked his fingers, "my finger is going to get you." Neji was sweating bullets. He made a mental note to thank Hinata later for saving his forehead protector from certain doom. The trio disappeared in a poof of smoke.

_**Shinobi Monument**_

Two shinobis and two kunoichis were standing at the shinobi monument. Each of them had a chuunin vest on. One of the kunoichis was holding the arm of a shinobi. The shinobi being held had untamable, spiky black hair. He wore a gray long sleeve shirt and had blue jeans on. He was fairly handsome. His forehead protector was used as a belt.

The kunoichi holding onto him had long, elegant black hair that ended a little higher than her hips. She wore a short blue t-shirt that revealed her bellybutton. She had on black pants that hugged her legs and ended a bit above the ankles. She was fairly pretty. Her forehead protector was on her head.

The other shinobi wore thin-rimmed glasses and had brown hair. He wore a black trench coat that reached to his knees and had a blue shirt underneath. His chuunin vest was under his trench coat. He had white pants on. He, too, was fairly handsome. He wore his forehead protector on the right arm. The other kunoichi had a somewhat orange hair color, which reached her shoulders. She wore red shorts and had a red sweater on. She was fairly pretty. She wore her forehead protector on her left arm.

Three of the four ninjas at the monument had goggles on their foreheads. "Naruto-nii-san... It's Konohamaru. We're sorry that we couldn't be here yesterday. We were busy with missions. Udon and Moegi here," He tilted his head to the male in the trench coat and girl with red shorts, "managed to keep them busy while I stole the scrolls." Konohamaru looked at the girl who was holding his arm.

"As for my personal life, well, Kaede-chan and I have become boyfriend and girlfriend," he gave Kaede a kiss on the cheek. "I guess that's all." It was silent for about five minutes.

"Ne, Konohamaru-kun. Ready to watch the jounin exams now?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, lets go." Konohamaru said. They then leapt through the trees to get to the stadium. Within minutes, they reached the front gates. As the approached it, three people appeared out of thin air. They could recognize two of them, but not the third one. The girl in the new group turned around.

It was Hinata. "Ohayo, Konohamaru," this shocked Naruto.

'_The Konohamaru Corps is still alive? I thought that they disbanded after I 'died,''_ Naruto turned around. And sure enough, there was Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and a girl that he could not recognize. _'I'll ask how they're doing later.'_

"Ohayo, Hinata-san." Konohamaru noticed that her cousin Neji was there too. However, he could not recognize the third person. "Ne, you in the black," Konohamaru said, "Who are you?" Hinata looked at Naruto, who simply smiled.

"You'll find out shortly. I'm participating in the exams today." Naruto said. A guard who was on duty overheard all this. He took a look at Naruto, and discovered that he was the one who brought in Orochimaru's head. He recognized him by the red glove. He quickly went to inform the Hokage.

"Well, good luck to you on the matches." Hinata said. The six of them left for their seats, leaving Naruto alone. He entered the stadium to see sixty-three other chuunins attempting to make jounin, all from different villages. Most of them took one look at him and did not like him. He did not have a forehead protector, and he simply waltzed into the stadium like he owned that place.

"Who the hell does that guy think he is?" One of the chuunins asked.

"I don't know. He doesn't have a forehead protector." Another said.

"I've never seen him before." A third said. More words would have traversed between these three chuunins if it wasn't for another voice.

Tsunade's booming could be heard all over Konoha.

"Welcome, all of you, to Konoha. Today, we, the citizens of Konoha, are honored by the presence of the Kazekage, Gaara." There was some applause for him. "And now, I will explain the rules for the upcoming matches."

_'Damn you, Gaara, it looks like you got the spot before me.'_ Naruto thought. He put on a smirk.

Tsunade continued, "Of the sixty-four of you here, only four of you will become jounin. The first event will be a free-for-all battle with eight randomly selected participants." A black screen appeared out of the wall. "The winner will be the last ninja standing. After, we will have one-on-one matches. Again, the winner will be the last ninja standing. Of the four who become jounins, the Kazekage will select one person to battle. The Kazekage insisted on this."

"Now the rules. The referee will be Genma." There was some polite clapping. "It is a fight to the death. However, if he feels that it's the end of a match, then it's over."

"And finally, I have some news unrelated to these exams: Orochimaru is dead." There was a loud cheer coming from the audience. "There will be a festival in one week's time to celebrate his death. And now... LET US BEGIN THE MATCHES!!!" Another loud cheer came from the crowd.

_**In The Hokage Box**_

"So, Gaara," Tsunade asked, "have you enjoyed your stay in Konoha so far?"

"It's been pleasant." Gaara replied. "It's a shame Naruto died." At his last word, the chuunin who was on guard duty appeared out of thin air.

"Hokage-sama! Do you know the man who has a red glove on his right hand?"

Tsunade thought for a moment. _'Red glove... Naruto...'_ "Yes, I do know him. Why?"

"Well, he was the man who brought in Orochimaru's head!"

"NANI?" Tsunade yelled. Upon hearing his name, Gaara had a look of surprise in his eyes.

'_I was supposed to kill him... After he played the Sand for fools. I'll defeat that man with the red glove.'_

"We have to stop the matches!" the chuunin yelled.

"We can't," Tsunade's eyes were locked onto the black screen. "The selection process has already begun.

_**Battlefield**_

Naruto, in the middle of the stadium, remembered when he was here last. He remembered when he beat Neji, and when he shoved Shikamaru off the ledge. Interesting memories. He looked up at the screen to see who was going first.

* * *

It's an Eight-Man Free-for-all! How will Naruto manage? And will he do well enough to face Gaara? And what about Konohamaru and his friends' reaction? And what about Hiashi, when he discovers the man who humiliated him is actually Naruto? Find out in the Next Chapter!!! 


	15. An Unfair Fight For Them

Another chapter for you guys! Thanks for the reviews! And now to respond.

taekmkm: Hinata used a frying pan because she believed it was a civilian, not a shinobi. Therefore, she cannot kill the person.

Dragon Man 180: Well, what would you do if you've lived without loving anyone else except your dead boyfriend/girlfriend for five years and then you suddenly find someone sleeping next to you in your own bed? Wouldn't you be freaked out? I know I would.

Irukapooka: Itadakimasu means 'I gratefully recieve.' It's a traditional Japanese thing to say before you eat.

TFI-Muse: Flaming Thousand Years of Pain, eh? I never thought of that one... I might just use it. Thank you for your idea.

Byuu128: All of your questions will be answered in this chapter. And yes, Naruto and Neji's attitudes toward each other will improve sooner or later.

Manatheron: I won't go into detail about the cursed seal on the Hyuuga branch family.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

I apologize for the quick fight scenes. Naruto is WAY out of his opponent's league, so they're going to be pretty short and fast.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: A Very Unfair Fight For Them

Naruto looked up at the black screen. One by one, the first seven participants were chosen. Naruto was waiting for the last name to be selected. So far, today's lucky numbers were Hayabusa Aki, Ryoushin Sato, Yoshikawa Zenko, Enoki Sayuri, Kenmotsu Ekiken, Dazai Ichiro, and Tabuchi Takako. There was one slot that was yet to be decided.

The audience could clearly be heard gasping. Much talk followed afterwards. However, five people who were watching had their jaws hanging.

Today's Super Number was Uzumaki Naruto.

"All of the other participants please exit the arena. We are about to start the first match." Genma said. He didn't care who won or who lost. As long as he got his gigantic toothpick to chew on, he was happy. Slowly, the mass of chuunin left the stage, leaving Naruto with seven other people. The ninjas were eying him suspiciously. After taking a close look at him, they looked at each other. They nodded, and returned to looking at him.

'_It seems that they want to take me down first... So be it,'_ Naruto thought. However, other than eleven shinobi's and the Hokage, a different though was running through the audience's head.

'_Which one is Naruto?'_ most of the audience thought.

Genma decided to start the match. "Hajime!" Immediately, the seven other shinobis fanned out around Naruto. Aki made a few hand seals.

"Ninpou: Burning Pain no Jutsu!" Immediately, red flames jumped out of the ground to meet Naruto. However, Naruto just smiled and slowly walked toward the caster of the jutsu. Apparently, she had used a genjutsu. And Naruto's sunglasses saw right through it.

Naruto was finally in front of Aki. But he didn't stop there. He simply walked past her. As soon as he was next to her, she felt a punch delivered to her abdomen. But she didn't see it. Naruto had delivered a quick punch too fast for the eye to see. She quickly lost consciousness and fell over. Genma quickly appeared by her side.

"Hayabusa Aki is out." He said. Soon, a medic nin poofed into existence, picked up her body, and then disappeared. The rest of the testing chuunins were stunned by the display of power Naruto had. But Naruto didn't want to spend too much time on this match. Collecting a blue flame in his hand, he threw it up into the air. Slowly, it split into six separate flames. Naruto jumped into the air and effectively kicked the flames to the six other chuunins.

The six, not wanting to go down without a fight, threw a few shurikens at the fireballs. Much to their dismay, before it even got close, their projectiles melted and fell to the ground. Since Naruto did not want to kill them, the aimed the meteors so that they would land in front of the person, causing an explosion in hopes of knocking them back. The meteors landed and exploded.

Three more chuunins were blown into the wall. They each hit it and lost consciousness. "Ryoushin Sato, Yoshikawa Zenko, and Enoki Sayuri are of the match." Three more medic nins appeared to take their bodies. The three remaining ninjas were shaking.

'_How can we compete against this guy? We're outmatched!'_ Ichiro thought. While he was thinking, Naruto began to stoop down. He picked up a pebble and threw it at Ekiken's shoulder. Deciding to block it, he took out a kunai and tried to deflect it.

Naruto grinned.

As soon as the kunai came into contact with the pebble, the blade was shattered. The pebble continued on its crash course with Ekiken's shoulder. The three chuunins were staring at the pebble. Naruto took this time to give another too-fast-for-you punch to Takako's abdomen. She fell to the ground, much like Aki.

Ekiken was sent spinning into the wall. Again, much like the other unfortunate three, he was knocked out. "Kenmotsu Ekiken and Tabuchi Takako are out." Ichiro saw Ekiken get knocked out, but he didn't know that Takako was attacked too. After the medic nins left, there was only a scared chuunin left. Naruto slowly began his advance on the unfortunate survivor.

He took out a few shuriken. "Get away from me!!!" Ichiro threw the shurikens at Naruto and did a few hand seals. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!!!" Naruto watched as the shurikens multiplied. He smirked and kept walking. Hinata watched from the stands.

'_What's he going to do? I know that Naruto-kun's powerful... but what will he do?'_ She watched as Naruto continued to walk. Slowly, the barrage of shuriken got closer. Naruto did a one-handed hand seal with his left hand. And then...

He disappeared. There was no poof of smoke. There was no line of smoke. There was no trace of Naruto being there. It was as if he disappeared. _'Nani?'_ was the thought, which occupied Ichiro's mind. In fact, it was the thought, which occupied everyone's mind.

Naruto then, almost instantaneously, reappeared in front of Ichiro. Ichiro was terrified. No, he was petrified. _'How can this guy... How can he be so strong? We couldn't land a scratch on him!'_ Slowly, Naruto raised his hand so that it was right in front of Ichiro's forehead protector. And slowly, Naruto used his favorite way to defeat his opponent.

Ptiinnnnnnggg.

Naruto flicked him. The last thing the audience saw was Ichiro flying into the wall. After the smoke cleared, Ichiro was lying on his stomach. There was an imprint of his body on the wall. Genma went to check on him. After making sure he was still alive, he made his call. "Dazai Ichiro is out. Shousa, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Silence greeted our victor, along with five other shinobis. They jumped down, each in their own fighting stance. They were Hyuuga Hiashi, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, another chuunin, and Gaara.

"Uzumaki Naruto! You are to report to the Hokage box immediately!" the chuunin said.

"YOU!!! What were you doing in my house yesterday?" Hiashi, full of rage, yelled.

"You're not Naruto!" the Konohamaru Corps said.

"Fight me, Naruto!" Gaara said. He had already taken off his Kazekage uniform and was in battle attire.

"Hey, hey... first things first." Naruto said. He disappeared, leaving some smoke. He then reappeared with Hinata in a hug. "Hiashi-sama, I'm sorry that Hinata-chan and I lied to you yesterday, but I was trying to get some training in from you." Hinata gave Naruto a kiss on his cheek. Hiashi's eyes widened.

"You lied to me, Hinata?"

"Gomen, tou-san," she replied.

"I made her do it, so your anger should be directed at me." Naruto said.

"I'll get you for this!" With that, Hiashi charged at Naruto.

"No need to get hasty." He quickly grabbed Hiashi's arm and put him in a headlock. Naruto then disappeared and put Hiashi in his spot in the stands. He then came back and gave Hinata a kiss on the lips. She blushed lightly.

"Now as for you three, what would it take for me to prove that I'm Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto said.

"What is his trademark technique?" Konohamaru asked. Naruto simply smirked and began to do some hand seals. All of the men who knew Naruto quickly shifted their eyes so that they would not see him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

_**Wave Country**_

Tazuna was taking his time to build another bridge. The wave country was indeed growing in size and power. Soon, they could begin to rival some other countries. _'Hmm... we may need to take our shinobi training up a notch.'_ His thought was interrupted as a black figure poofed into existence. "AAHHHH! Who are you?"

"Don't recognize me, Tazuna-san? It's me, Naruto." The Naruto clone said. Tazuna's eyes widened.

"Naruto, is that really you? You're alive! I thought that you died!"

"Yeah well, a lot of people thought I died." The clone looked up into the sky. "Well, I guess I'll visit you some time when I can. See you later, old man." The clone became a cloud of smoke.

_**Testing Stadium**_

"Do you believe me now?" The real Naruto said. The stadium was overflowing with Naruto clones. In fact, the entire Konoha village was overflowing with Naruto clones. Konohamaru did not have to answer. The tears did the talking.

"Nii-san!!!" Konohamaru ran up to give Naruto a hug.

"Now, go back to your seats. I have some more business to attend to." Naruto said. The three chuunins leapt back into the stands. However, they did not head for their seats immediately.

"Now Gaara, I know that you're itching for a fight. But you'll have to wait for the matches to end. Now let's go to the Hokage box." With that, the three ninjas went to their destination.

_**Hokage Box**_

"So... you called, Hokage-obachan?" Naruto said. Tsunade did not bother to get angry. Instead, she got even.

She slapped him. Or at least she attempted to. Naruto had already grabbed her wrist. "Why didn't you tell me that you killed-,"

"Killed who, Hokage-sama?" Tsunade turned around to see all of Naruto's friends behind her, listening intently. Naruto's friends consisted of the Rookie Nine, Neji and his old teammates, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Iruka. Konohamaru and his friends were also there, too.

"Let me finish," Tsunade turned to Naruto. "Why didn't you tell me that you killed Orochimaru?" The people in the Hokage box gave out some gasps.

"Well, I tried, but I couldn't really say it since you told me about the jounin exams and also told me to 'shut up and stop complaining.'" Naruto answered. "Now I say that we watch the next match. Any disagreements?"

"One," the voice belonged to Sasuke. "How were you able to move that fast to avoid the shurikens? You did some sort of weird one-handed hand seal and then appeared right in front of his face."

Naruto looked at Gaara. "I'll tell all of you after I beat Gaara and get something to eat. You too, Gaara."

The matches progressed and, needless to say, they were quite... boring. At least it was boring to Naruto. Finally, it was time for the one-on-one matches. And who would have thought it? Naruto was first to go.

Naruto was up against some guy from the Lightning Village. They approached each other in the battleground. Genma approached them, "Now remember, if I think that you're out, then you're out. Hajime!"

Naruto decided that this match would be a waste of his time. So he put his left hand into the seal again. However, a stabbing pain in his right hand brought him onto his knees. Immediately, a blue wall of fire surrounded Naruto, obscuring him from the audience's view. He screamed in pain.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata screamed. The fear of the unknown struck Hinata. What was happening to Naruto? The lightning shinobi, seizing the opportunity, threw a few shuriken at him. But they melted before they reached him. Naruto continued to scream in pain. But he knew that the pain would end soon.

It was the same pain that happened the day after he first absorbed the fire into his right hand. If his guess were correct, then the pain would slowly go away. And then the fire slowly changed.

The fire around him began to change. It turned from blue to yellow. And then it was no longer flames. It was electricity. The pain no longer afflicted his gloved hand. Also, his hand was no longer red, but yellow. He stood up, ready to win. He gathered some chakra into his hand and it was not a blue flame; yellow electricity was coursing through his glove.

'Now, how do I switch back?' Naruto began to think about the flames that he could produce. Suddenly, his right hand began to give off some light. When the light died down, the red glove was back. Then he thought back to the electricity. And sure enough, his glove changed back to yellow, giving off some light like before.

Then, giving off a trademark smirk, he made electricity course through his glove and dashed at his opponent. He was too fast for him to see Naruto. Naruto gave him a shocking too-fast-for-you punch to the abdomen, effectively knocking him out. Genma then appeared. After making his decision, his verdict was final.

"Shousa, Uzumaki Naruto!"

* * *

So Naruto is now a jounin! What will his life be like now? And how about that glove? Will he be able to properly harness its new power? And what about the match between him and Gaara? Find out in the next chapter!


	16. Unraveling Of More Secrets

Hey all! I almost didn't get this chapter up today. I got too deep into "There Where When Is Now," books 1, 2, and 3, written by TokehGecko. It's a good story and I recomend you all to read it. I would like to thank you guys for the reviews.

Dragon Man 180: You will find out the truth behind his little trick in this chapter.

Ruri: It's about to get even more unfair for them.

Timeshifter: Hiashi will have his say in their relationship eventually.

S-Wanderer999: I will can only say that your prediction is wrong. But it's a good guess though. I may use it to put in a fluff scene or two.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Unraveling Of More Secrets

"Congratulations to you four who have become jounins," Tsunade said. "Now serve your villages with honor!" A cheer erupted from the crowd. In the testing stadium, four shinobis were smiling from ear to ear. "And now, the Kazekage will select his opponent for the oncoming match."

Of course, seeing how Gaara acted after finding out that Naruto was still alive, the audience already knew whom he wanted to fight. All the other new jounins and Tsunade left the arena. Gaara stood in front of Naruto. Before Gaara could talk, Naruto ran his mouth.

"So how's life in the Village of Sand?" He asked.

"It's getting along well."

"And your social life? You don't go around killing people anymore, do you?" Naruto asked once more. Gaara's face turned downcast.

"Please, do not remind me of that time. I was a killer. As for my social life," Gaara smiled a bit. "I'm married." Naruto thought for a moment.

'_Man, everyone is either married or getting married. That just leaves me, and Hinata... She's not married either. Perhaps... yes, if I love her back.'_

"Let's go." Gaara said. With that, Gaara tossed off his Kazekage robes to reveal himself in a combat outfit. Naruto simply smiled.

"Do you wear that everyday?" Naruto said.

"No, I do not wear it everyday. However, it's not an everyday thing that I fight you."

"So how are we going to fight, Gaara? If we have a full-out match, then this stadium won't be standing." Naruto asked. Gaara thought for a moment. And he came up with an answer.

"First to draw blood or knock the other out wins. No ninjutsu or genjutsu, just taijutsu. You can use weapons. But you can use chakra to increase the power of your bodies or weapons." Naruto agreed.

"Very well." Naruto said. Genma, being the referee, stepped in.

"Now, for our final match: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Gaara, the Kazekage. Hajime!" And with the last word said, Gaara charged at Naruto.

First, Gaara threw out several fast punches. Naruto managed to dodge them all. Gaara then attempted to knee Naruto in the gut. Naruto dodged and then pushed Gaara's leg to the side, causing him to lose balance. Using this opportunity, Naruto was getting his gloved hand ready to give Gaara a punch in the face.

Gaara, however, who was expecting the punch, leaned back, placed his hands on the ground, and kicked upwards. Seeing this, Naruto leapt back to keep himself from getting hit. The combatants were now a good distance away from each other.

"I see that you have gotten better, but no shield of sand?" Naruto said.

"I know that you can easily bypass it, so I deactivated it. You've gotten better, too," Gaara replied. This time, Naruto started the attack. Naruto charged in, and lifted up his leg to deliver a sidekick to Gaara's waist. Gaara got ready to intercept the kick. Naruto smirked.

Seeing that Gaara got ready to intercept his kick, Naruto instead, swung his leg low, kicking out one of Gaara's feet from below him. Naruto then grabbed his opponent's head and brought it crashing down on his knee.

Gaara reeled back, clutching his forehead. "Come on, Gaara. You have to be better than that to be Kazekage, right?"

"Yeah, well, I beat you to the job of being a Kage." Gaara smirked at his comment.

"Hey, you didn't 'die' for five years, did you?"

"At least I'm not an idiot."

"Shut up, Gaara." They charged at each other, resuming their taijutsu match. Kicks and punches were thrown and blocked faster than the eye could see. It was a spectacular match for the audience.

Eventually, they jumped apart. They had a few scratches on their clothes, but Gaara had a few bruises where Naruto hit him. Gaara was a bit out of breath.

"Gaara," Naruto began, "it appears that we're somewhat at a standstill."

"Yeah."

"So how about this: We each use one attack. It may be a jutsu or just taijutsu. And whoever is knocked out or is worse off loses. How's that?" Gaara smiled.

"Fine with me." Gaara got started on some hand seals. "I guess I'll go first. Ninpou: Sand Drill!" Immediately, the sand around Gaara became sharp drills and they launched themselves at Naruto with ferocious speed.

Naruto took his gloved hand and started to block them. As each drill hit his glove, they disintegrated into sand once more. Gaara was shocked to see at what his glove could do. First, it could shoot out fire, then use electricity, and it was indestructible. Finally, the last drill disappeared.

"My turn." Naruto took off his glasses, keeping his eyes closed. He then threw them at Gaara. Thinking that they were just normal sunglasses, he blocked them. As soon as the glasses touched him, Gaara knew it was a mistake.

The sunglasses, even though they were moving at a slow speed, were filled with chakra. Thus it hit hard and threw Gaara off balance. Seeing that his opponent was open, he blurred forward and instantly started hitting Gaara with punches and kicks. Finally, Naruto landed one last punch that caused Gaara to be knocked off his feet and go rolling on the floor. Genma chose to end the match.

"Shousa, Uzumaki Naruto!"

_**After Lunch**_

"So what's up with that hand seal thingy? I've never seen that kind of seal before," Sakura said.

"Yeah, and when you used it, you seemed to move from one spot to another instantaneously." Neji added.

"Well, why don't you guys take a few guesses?" Naruto suggested. "I'll give you three tries."

"Your own jutsu?" Tenten asked.

"Really high speed movement?" Lee suggested.

"Genjutsu?" Sakura carefully chose.

"No, it's not a new jutsu, and no, it's not a genjutsu." Naruto smiled.

'_It's definitely not a jutsu or genjutsu, otherwise I would have been able to copy them,'_ Sasuke thought. _'Though high speed...'_ Sasuke thought back to yesterday seeing how Naruto had been nothing more than a blur when he paralyzed all of them. Then he remembered how Naruto's punches were dealt to the chuunins during the Jounin Exams. _'Yes, that has to be it.'_

"And it's not high speed either." Naruto's answer shocked all of them.

'_What can it be?'_ everyone thought. Naruto opened his mouth to speak again. There was a smile on his lips.

"It's my Bloodline Limit," His answer shocked everyone, including Jiraiya and Kakashi. They knew a few secrets about the Fourth Hokage, but a Bloodline Limit? They had never heard of the Fourth having such a bloodline limit that let him do that.

"When I form the seal and focus chakra on my left hand, I am able to slow down time by drastic proportions. When I use just a little bit of chakra, one second in the real world is actually twenty minutes in mine. When I use a lot of chakra, however, I can downright stop time. But when I use it, it slowly drains chakra. But I have so much of it that it doesn't really matter. Also, my family doesn't seem to age when we use this skill." Naruto gave a mouthful. "It came from my mother's side. Apparently, every Uzumaki has bright blue eyes like mine."

They were all shocked. Sasuke knew that he now had absolutely no way of beating Naruto. Not when he can slow down time like this. Also, Naruto had beaten him without the use of his Bloodline Limit while Sasuke had his Sharingan activated. There was no hope of rekindling their rivalry. But he could always try, right?

"Where did you learn of your Bloodline Limit?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well, it all started when I fell down the bridge five years ago. I was carried downstream several miles. When I woke up, I found myself in an underwater cave. So I set out to explore a little. Eventually, I found a clay jar with a very big scroll inside. It read that it was the property of the Fourth Hokage. I took it with me when I left the cave. But eventually, curiosity got the better of me. So naturally I opened it. And inside were the jutsus, ability, and status of every known shinobi clan." Everyone was startled with the amazing treasure Naruto had found.

"So I looked around and found out that my last name was in there. So I tried a few of the jutsus and they worked. So I am a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan. I am also, sadly, the last, as my mother was the only remaining Uzumaki and her whereabouts are currently unknown."

"I also found out that the Fourth Hokage was also the last descendant of the Kazara Clan. And according to what I learned yesterday, I now have two bloodlines running through me."

That was quite a lot of information for the group to take in. To have two different Bloodline Limits. Having one already meant that he or she would be difficult to defeat. Having two would mean that it would be twice as hard. And since Naruto had one that could slow time down, then he would be virtually unstoppable.

"Ne, Naruto," Tsunade began, "do you still have the scroll with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Since it is the property of your father, that means that it now rightfully belongs to you. I suggest that you carry that scroll with you at all times to keep it from getting stolen. If it does, than we could have problems, so guard it at all costs."

"Ok. Well, I'm going off to practice my father's jutsus." Naruto got up and was about to leave.

"Oi, Naruto," Tsunade said once more. "Meet me at the Ninja Academy tomorrow at nine a.m. You will receive your genin students."

"Alright then," Naruto was about to leave once more when Tsunade decided to say a few more words.

"If you're late, well..." Tsunade considered Naruto's Bloodline Limit. "...Well, I don't know what to say."

* * *

So Naruto has not one, but two Bloodline Limits! What is the gift that his father had given him? Find out in the next chapter!


	17. The People In The Shadows

This is it! Chapter 17! Thank you, my reviewers! Now to answer questions!

Irukapooka: You get to see just how well Naruto is at teaching people in this chapter.

Dragon Man 180: The glove has nothing to do with Naruto's dad's bloodline. That was something Naruto recieved after the Kyuubi failed in his attempt to escape from Naruto.

Monaki-cheung: Trust me, there will be someone who is on par, if not more powerful than Naruto in this fic.

To all who say that there should be more Naruhina fluff: There will be some fluff in this chapter.

TFI-Muse: Sorry, but I don't really plan to have much more about Gaara in this fic.

And to all you Nejiten worshippers: Just read on.

A/N: There is a lime in this chapter. Just giving you guys a heads-up.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: The People In The Shadows 

The busy people continued on their way through the streets of Konoha. Walking at their own pace, they were oblivious to the fact that one of Konoha's newest jounins was making his way down the street. _'So... I'm a jounin now... that's one step closer to Hokage for me,'_ Naruto thought. He continued his way down the busy street. His thoughts turned to the scroll his father made. _'Perhaps I can train my other bloodline now. Or perhaps this electricity that I can use.'_ And with that, he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Naruto appeared at the Team Seven training grounds. Taking out his father's scroll, he opened it up and turned to the K section. And the first one on the list was Kazara. He read what the scroll had to say.

'_The Kazara Clan is known for its ability to be able to use explosions in battle to their advantage. Also, they have their own clan-made explosive notes, very similar to the Akimichi's food pill. The Kazara Clan is famous enough to have actually earned a nickname; the Bakuhatsu clan.'_

'_Okay, that's some interesting background information... anything else?'_ Naruto skipped parts until he found what he wanted.

'_In order for a Kazara Clan to use their bloodline limit, the user must first gather some chakra into their eyes. Then, they must stare at the spot where they want the explosion to be and release the chakra from the Tenketsu points in their eyes. If the user is quick enough, they can cast several successive explosions within seconds of each other.'_

It sounded simple enough for Naruto. So he attempted to focus some chakra into his eyes. He noticed that when he did so, his sight seemed to zoom in at what he was looking at, which was currently a tree trunk. After gathering a small amount of chakra, he looked at a fairly large stone and released the chakra.

The only thing he saw of an explosion was perhaps a small ball of orange. He would need a lot more chakra to make the explosion useful. Naruto once again turned to the scroll for more information. Perhaps it was a bad idea to skimp around when it came to reading the scroll.

'_The Kazara's ability to cause explosions to take place requires a lot of chakra. Because of this, most clan members will have an unusually large chakra capacity at a young age and their capacity will continue to grow at exponential rates.'_

'_Okay, is there anything else?'_ Naruto continued to read.

_The Kazara Clan shinobis are known to never give up, to have unusual stamina, and for having an unusually large appetite for ramen.'_

'_So that's why...'_ thought Naruto. He started reading again.

'_The Kazara Clan is rumored to have started when the first ancestor, Kazara Takashi, accidentally got something stuck in his eye. Since he his hands were occupied, he couldn't get it out easily. So he tried to-'_

Naruto did not bother to read the history of his clan. Perhaps in the future, during some rainy day, he would read the story of his predecessor. But not today, for today he would train. Naruto guessed that he would just have to use a lot more chakra. So once again, Naruto focused more chakra to his eyes and released, this time aiming at a tree

The results were phenomenal. The tree Naruto was staring at exploded, rivaling the power of an explosion note. What was left of the tree was a burnt stump; the trunk had been blown off and was now lying several feet away. _'How powerful... but sadly, I can only aim it at one target at a time. It would be nice to have a Byakuugan. Then I could aim it at everything... I could marry Hinata for-'_ Naruto vigorously shook his head. He would not marry for power. Only scum would do that. There would be no way in the world where Naruto would marry for power.

'_Man, how could I think that... I would never marry Hinata for that reason.' _Naruto realized that he had thought of marrying Hinata. Once again, Naruto vigorously shook his head. _'If I do love her, it's still to early to think about marrying her.'_ Naruto looked at his gloved hand. _'Well, I know enough about my clan for now; I can learn how to make those exploding tags later. I should find out what I can do with electricity now.'_

Naruto gathered electricity into his hand; it was giving off cracks. He did a sweeping motion from left to right. It effectively created a barrier of lightning. _'Hm... how can I utilize this barrier?'_ Naruto lightly tossed a shuriken into the air. While it fell back to him, he made the electric barrier again. As it fell towards the barrier, it slowed down to a stop, resting inches above it. Apparently, the shuriken was hovering, rising and falling. It was much like when two magnets with the same polarization are put together.

'_This barrier seems to repel rather than absorb. Then again, my fire barrier melts them before they can hit me. Maybe I can shoot them away...'_ With that, Naruto increased the power of his barrier by putting more chakra into it. And it shoots the shuriken away with extreme force. _'Interesting...'_ Naruto continued to train his newfound powers.

'_Can I attract them?'_ Naruto threw a kunai at a tree, getting it stuck. Then, using his electricity, he managed to attract the kunai. And a few other metal things as well. His gloved hand was now a magnet. He would train his powers until he felt that he made enough progress.

By now it was nighttime, and Naruto was eating a peaceful dinner of ramen. Now he finally understood why he loved this stuff. To think that it had to do with his bloodline limit. _'My ancestors are a bunch of crazy old people,'_ Naruto gave off a small smile.

Naruto thought more about his bloodline from his father. After reading a bit more about the scroll, he learned that he could only cause inanimate objects to explode. That meant that he could not cause people to blow up. _'Oh well,'_ Naruto thought, _'I won't really need to make people blow up though.'_

Naruto would have continued to eat had he not heard someone call his name.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," He turned around with a smile on his face.

"Hello, Hinata-chan," he started. "What's up?"

"Oh... not much. I'm just getting some things. I need a new frying pan." Hinata said.

"Eh heh heh... sorry about that," Naruto remembered what happened with the frying pan that morning.

"It's okay, they're not very expensive." There was a short silence. "So what are you going to do about your possible students?" Hinata asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I'll think of something." Naruto looked outside. Slowly, the sky was getting darker. "Ne, Hinata-chan, it's getting late. Want to take a walk?" The pair got up and left on their way.

Slowly, they found themselves in a park. It was a full moon, and the couple was sitting on a park bench, drinking in its beauty. Naruto took a look at Hinata's face. Her head strewn onto his shoulder, she was awake and staring at the moon. Its light was bouncing off of Hinata's skin, increasing her beauty. A thought came across Hinata's head. _'Where would Naruto-kun be staying?'_ She turned to face him.

"Ne, Naruto-kun, where will you be staying? Neji would prefer that you stay out of my apartment."

"I'll probably sleep in the forest. Why spend money on a room when you can sleep out here?" Naruto said.

"What? Why the forest? Won't you be cold?"

"When you've got nine tails," Naruto transformed into his demon form and gently wrapped the tails around Hinata, "you find that you can keep yourself warm very easily." And she had to agree; it was very warm. Naruto took a look at his tails.

Instead of being red-orange, they were now golden. _'Perhaps it's because I absorbed the electricity.'_ Naruto thought. Hinata moved closer to him, enjoying the tails wrapped around her. She stole a look at his eyes. They gazed at each other and slowly brought their lips into a kiss. _'Hinata-chan,'_ Naruto thought, _'I'm falling for you.'_

Getting a new frying pan was something Hinata decided that she could do tomorrow.

_**Nine Months Later**_

It had been nine months since Naruto had concluded that he loved Hinata, with all his heart and soul. Of course, he had yet to tell her. But he had some inward feeling that she already knew, and he had no reason to tell her.

And now, Naruto was inside his newly purchased house. It wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small either. It was just right for Naruto. He made sure that it was a two-story house. Also, the door into his room was a swinging door. It came with a rather interesting lock mechanism that was very hard to pick open. And right now, Hinata was sitting next to him in the living room.

"So how did the Genin Exams go?" She asked.

"Eh... they did pretty well," Naruto answered. A short silence ensued.

"You failed them, didn't you?" Hinata stated. There was a playful smile on her face.

"Yeah," Naruto murmured. She knew him all to well. He was the best out of everyone in the village and was destined to become Hokage. She gave him a playful punch.

"Naruto-kun, that's the third team you've failed so far," She said.

"Hinata-chan, they're not ready to grasp what it means to be a shinobi. Half of them think that being a shinobi is all fun and games while those who are able to become valuable shinobis don't work together in teams." Naruto's way of testing the possible genins was a rather unorthodox method.

Where almost all of the jounin instructors used the bell test, Naruto came up with his own way. The genins he was testing were to get a clean hit on him. And Naruto did not hold back.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura-san says that the kids at the academy call you the 'Jounin Instructor of Death.' Can't you go easy on them at least once?" Hinata pleaded. She gave him those puppy dog eyes. Naruto stared at them without his sunglasses.

Naruto decided that he would not wear his sunglasses unless he was on a mission. And even though he had received missions to kill certain people, gather information, etc, none of them were very difficult for him.

Naruto finally gave in. "Alright, I'll go easy on them this time." Naruto took a look at the clock. "Say, isn't it time to meet the rest of the gang for lunch?" Hinata took a glance at her watch.

"Yeah, we should get going." With that, they disappeared from the house and reappeared outside of the restaurant. They were waiting for everyone else, which meant the rest of the Rookie Nine and Neji's old teammates.

Naruto turned around to get a good look at the scenery. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. So why did he have this feeling that he was being watched? Just then, the rest of Naruto's friends came into existence.

"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke said, "hungry?" Naruto simply nodded

_**During Lunch**_

"Hey Neji-kun," Tenten was leaning over to Neji, "got one?" Tenten said.

"Um... I don't know what you're talking about, Tenten-chan." Neji replied.

"Let me rephrase that," Tenten's voice suddenly got seductive. "Do you have one?" she gave him a lick behind the ear.

Neji instantly sat up straight. It worked every single time. Whenever Tenten was in the mood for sex, which was often, she would lick him behind the ear. And sometimes, she would have those cravings at the most awkward moments. Neji once distinctly remembered how they once had sex in the middle of a mission in a forest in broad daylight. By the question she asked, she was asking whether Neji had a condom somewhere on him. He usually did.

They had gone through this many times. When they were in a restaurant, she would head to the woman's bathroom and lock the door. Then, Neji would leave the table a minute later and also head to the men's bathroom and locking the door. If the woman's bathroom was occupied, Tenten would come back before Neji left. If the men's bathroom were occupied, Neji would knock on the woman's bathroom and ask whether she was there or not. If he did not knock, after a minute had passed, Tenten would use her amazing ninja abilities to somehow appear in the men's bathroom, next to a waiting Neji. He would have already put up a sound seal and they would start immediately.

"I have to use the bathroom," and Tenten quickly left the table. She did not come back. Neji stood up a minute later.

"I also have to use the bathroom," and Neji left the table. He did not come back.

Now Naruto found this habit of theirs extremely annoying. He had no idea what they were doing. In fact, those two made sure of it. They made sure that no one knew about what they were doing when they had to 'use the bathroom' together.

Naruto really did not like it. Every time they went off to the bathroom together, a strange smell would follow afterwards, smells that only he was able to pick up. And it emanated from the bathroom.

Hinata put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'll be right back; I need to use the restroom." Naruto simply nodded and watch her make her way.

Hinata stood outside of the restroom door. These were one of those restaurants where they only had one bathroom, and they were to be shared. She felt something strange about it. _'A sound seal? Why is that here?'_ Hinata quickly did a hand seal. "Kai!" and then the sound of low moans came through the door.

Naruto was still sitting at his seat. But something was wrong. There was that fleeting feeling that someone was watching him. But after hearing low moans escape from the bathroom, he perked up. Something was not right. And he was sure that it had something to do with Neji and Tenten.

Hinata, still being the innocent girl, was rather confused at the sounds. Why were these sounds coming from the bathroom? And why was the sound seal up? Thinking a little, she came up with a decision. She had enough reason to be suspicious. She activated her Byakuugan a moment too soon.

"Oh, Neji-kun," She lost all urge to use the bathroom. Hinata, with a deep blush, was now staring at Neji and Tenten. He had one of his hands up Tenten's shirt and was kissing her neck.

"Oh Neji-kun," Naruto heard. Instantly, he sat up. He had a feeling that it, too came from the bathroom. He put two and two together and came up with his answer: They were having sex in the bathroom.

"Naruto, is something wrong?" Sakura asked.

A man stood up from his meal, paid the cashier, and left the restaurant.

"N-No, everything's alright." Naruto tensed up a little.

'_Would Naruto-kun... would he do that to me when we get married?'_ Hinata stared wide-eyed at her cousin and his wife. She attempted to put up another sound seal, but because she was so surprised, she missed a hand seal and nothing happened. More moans escaped from the bathroom.

Hinata watched her cousin continue to attack Tenten's neck. Slowly, very slowly, Neji moved his other hand. He slipped it down her pants and...

Naruto stood up from his seat. He was worried about Hinata peaking on them. "I have to use the bathroom," he said. He quickly got up out of his seat and quickly walked to the bathroom.

Hinata quickly deactivated her Byakuugan. She would not watch her cousin and his wife do these... lovely things. And not a moment later, she once again heard Tenten mutter out Neji's name. But the same thought came to her head. _'Would Naruto-kun... is that what happens when you get married?'_ And to her utmost shock, Naruto was standing next to her. She was blushing madly.

"You used your Byakuugan, didn't you?" Hinata slowly nodded, ashamed what she had done. Naruto simply shook his head. "It's okay, everyone makes mistakes. I have no idea why they're doing that here, though." Naruto quickly put up another sound seal, effectively keeping the sounds from escaping. "Come on, Hinata, let's go." He took her hand and led her back to the table.

_**Elsewhere**_

A man brought his report to another man sitting on a chair. The sitting man opened the scroll. After reading the scroll, he had a sinister smile on his face.

"Good job, Itachi-san," With that, Itachi bowed and disappeared.

"So... Uzumaki Naruto lives... And he has even managed to woo a girl..." The sinister man gave out a low chuckle.

"Perfect."

* * *

What will Naruto do about his next genin team? And now that Naruto knows that he loves Hinata, how much longer until he proposes? And what about the AKATSUKI?!? Wait around, for the next chapter is nigh!


	18. Waiting For That Moment

It's kind of funny. I say that the updates may take longer, but instead they're up faster. The irony. But who cares! Thank you for your kind reviews.

Darak: I only killed Orochimaru in this story. The Akatsuki have yet to do something, which will take place in this chapter.

TimeShifter: Sorry, but there will be no lime or lemon. But there will be more intimate things happening later in my other Naruto fic, Encyclopedia Ninja. So you may want to read that one.

IrukaPooka: No, you will not be seeing much of Gaara anymore. Originally, I did not intend to put him in. But, as you have read, I have put him in.

SephyNarutoCloud: Every time you give me a review, you continually say that I should update faster. Do you realize that I update more frequently than many other authors/authoresses on ? When you realize this, please do not continue to tell me to update faster; I try to update my fics every four days. I would prefer that you give me ways on how I can work on my writing skills. Thank you.

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Waiting For That Moment 

He had it all planned out. He had the ring. He had the perfect place to go to. He knew what to do.

First, he would take her to dinner. Then, he would lead her to a nice, quiet place in the park. Then, he would do it. Today, Uzumaki Naruto would propose to Hyuuga Hinata.

But he had to deal with his other problem first. Today, he would have to deal with another set of possible genin students. He promised Hinata that he would take it easy on them. But that was not the main problem.

Uzumaki Naruto, for the first time in many years, was anxious. He was afraid that Hinata would recoil and say no. Or perhaps it was because he, never knowing his father or mother, would not know what to do in certain situations during their marriage. He was not so sure what to do when the doorbell rang. He quickly opened the door and immediately hugged Hinata.

"Hello, Hinata-chan," Naruto gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ready to get some new genins?" Hinata's old students have already become chuunin. So she needed a fresh set of young ninjas to train.

"Of course. Now remember your promise," Hinata said.

"I know, I know; I will take it easy on the genins this time," Naruto pledged.

"Good. Now let's get some lunch." They left the house and appeared at the Ichiraku. "So, Naruto-kun, how do you plan to test these students?" Hinata split her chopsticks and was going to start eating.

"I'm thinking that I'll do the bell test, except that there will only be one bell." Naruto answered. Hinata dropped her chopsticks.

"Naruto-kun!" she whined, "You promised me that you would go easy on them! Using only one bell will make things worse!"

"Hey, I'm not done yet! I'm going to put the bell on a hundred foot wall and they have to somehow reach and ring the bell."

"That's too easy!"

"Please, let me continue. They can't use any jutsus. Assuming that they're regular genin, they won't know how to use their chakra to walk up the wall. However, they are allowed to do so."

"That's still too easy, Naruto-kun."

"I'm still not done yet. They'll have their feet and hands linked. One will have both his hands and feet linked while the other two will only have one arm or foot linked. I'm going to assume that they're going to use kunais as objects to help them climb up."

Hinata could now see how difficult this test would be for the genins. Naruto was forcing them to work together instead of the three genins choosing to work together. "But Naruto, if you force them to work together, then they'll automatically pass. You can't do that!"

"I know, which is why that they have to ring the bell in three hours, or they will fail." Naruto answered.

"Oh," she realized that indeed this would be an interesting test. "Say, are you going to be using any traps?" Naruto didn't answer, but instead had a playful grin. "Okay, don't answer me, but don't go overboard! Remember what happened last time? He had so many injuries, he had to go to the hospital!"

Last time, one of the genins launched a water jutsu at Naruto. Naruto, deciding to go easy on them, stuck up his right hand and planned to let the water hit him. To his dismay, his glove absorbed the water. Now Naruto can manipulate the moisture in the air to form ice walls, water cushions, etc. Also, when Naruto transformed into a fox, the fur was white.

Naruto's glove was amazingly powerful. In fact it was so powerful that when it was Hinata's birthday, he made it snow in the whole village and he took her around as her birthday present. She often told him that she would love to see it snow. But it doesn't snow often in the Fire country. The last time it snowed was when the First was still Hokage.

Well, the genin got so pissed off that he walked through a tripwire, which launched many kunais at him. He dodged them all, but a stray kunai cut one of the strings attached to a log, which caused the log swing into another trip wire that set off the Kazara Clan exploding tags, which always gave off blue explosions. All this happened in a time period of ten seconds. By the end of the day, the said genin had a cut lip, no eyebrows, numerous burns, several cuts, a broken rib and a broken leg, which all came from those ten seconds.

"Eh..." Naruto paused, "I'll keep that in mind. We should get going. Don't want to keep those genin waiting, right?" Hinata nodded in agreement. Naruto paid their tab and they disappeared.

Apparently, they were the last jounins to pick up their students. It was either that they were late, or that the other jounins decided to come earlier. As soon as the remaining two groups saw Naruto, one boy said, "Aww man, it's the Jounin Instructor of Death." It was very tempting to give that boy the Flaming Finger. Come to think of it, Naruto still owed Neji one of those.

Either way, Naruto took his three students up to a building that offered a clear view of the Hokage Monument. They started to introduce themselves. "So," Naruto began after they had done so, "I'm going to give you a choice. You can either take the test now, or you may take it tomorrow." It was a unanimous decision; they would take the test today. "Alright then, follow me."

Naruto began to lead them and they met Hinata. "Hey, Hinata-chan," She looked over at him. "My students want to take their test today. Do you want to watch?" Hinata nodded and followed Naruto to where a wide pole was placed.

"Alright you three, you are to climb that pole and ring he bell on the top."

"Easy!" one of the males began to start, but Naruto stopped him.

"Wait," Naruto snapped his fingers. Rope snaked their way around their wrists and ankles. "You're going to climb it while being tied together. Also, you cannot use jutsus or bloodlines. Other than that, you may use your ninja tools and whatever means necessary to ring the bell."

"You have three hours to do so. In case you guys fall, I'll make a cushion of water," A small pool of water formed underneath the pole. Naruto brought out a clock. With much difficulty, the genins positioned themselves around the pole. He pushed a button, starting the test. "Begin!"

The genins took out a pair of kunais each with much difficulty. They each stuck the kunais into the pole with much difficulty. They climbed a foot up with much difficulty. They fell with relative ease. Both Naruto and Hinata watched in amusement.

The three genins started to climb again. They had managed to go up ten feet when the first of Naruto's traps went off. It sent an electric shock through the boy in the middle, which paralyzed him for five seconds. However, those five seconds were enough for the genins to fall off once more, who were caught by the cushion of water. It would be an amusing day for Naruto and Hinata.

Needless to say, the three genins failed.

_**In The Park**_

Dinner had gone as planned. Flawlessly executed, Naruto had engaged the second part of his plan, the walk in the park. So far, that went well, too. They were now sitting on the bench. Hinata was leaning on his shoulder once more.

Hinata enjoyed the warmth coming off of Naruto. It felt so... so... comforting and... protective. Just being able to feel the warmth coming from him was enough for her to be happy. Of course, she prayed everyday that their relationship would grow. And so far, her prayers have been answered.

"Naruto-kun," she said.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"Could you..." she paused for a moment. "Could you wrap your tails around me?" She blushed at her request. Naruto looked a bit puzzled as to why she would ask that, and then smiled.

"Of course," Naruto transformed himself and let his tails, which were white because the glove's influence, wrap around Hinata and bringing her closer to him. Oh, did she enjoy that warmth. Hinata appeared serene and calm.

On the other hand, Naruto was, even though he did not show it, anxious to the very core of his bones. His palms were sweaty. He had butterflies in his stomach. He would be heartbroken if she did not accept him. But he would always be anxious until he asked her. So, taking in a breath of air, he shakily began. He was fingering the box with the ring inside it.

It was now or never. Do or die. Making an audible gulp that he swore that even Tsunade, in her Hokage office, could have heard, Naruto began his proposal. He turned to face Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," He shakily said. His hand traveled to his forehead to wipe off his sweat.

"Yes?" she stared at his eyes. Naruto instantly froze under her scanning lavender eyes. He could feel her eyes, which nothing can escape from her sight, slowly reading him like a book.

"Y-You're a wonderful lady, Hinata-chan," She felt that he was stalling. For one, he was stuttering. And she had **_never _**heard Naruto stutter in her entire life of watching him.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"N-No! N-Nothing's wrong!" He drew in a deep breath. _'Come on! Ask her!'_

"Then why are you stuttering?"

"W-Well, you see, um..." Naruto gulped again. "Whenever I'm around you, I-I feel... good. And," Naruto's right hand fumbled in his right pocket for the box. But he did not pull it out. "I want you to be happy. A-And in this current state of our relationship, I don't think I can offer it to you."

'_Oh no! Is Naruto-kun breaking up with me?'_ A tear trickled her cheek. Naruto saw this and used his tail to brush the tear away.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?"

She gave out a snivel. "Y-You're breaking up with me."

"No! I'm not breaking up with you!"

"B-But you sound like you're going to! P-Please, don't lie to me."

'_I guess I'll have to do it now.'_ Naruto took out the box, but Hinata could not see it yet. "Well, there's no point in hiding it from you. Hinata-chan, before I met you, there was a hole in here," he pointed to where his heart would be. "And that hole hurt. But when you came, that hole slowly disappeared."

Hinata had no idea what he was saying. First, it sounded like he was breaking up with her. Now, it sounded completely different. She looked on at him with confusion written all over her face.

Naruto saw this and sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, Hinata-chan, will you-," before he could pull out the box to show Hinata, a voice called out.

"Naruto-san!" Naruto turned around to see Lee. "Hokage-sama has a mission for you."

"Well, tell her I'm busy." _'Damn it, Lee!'_

"No can do, Naruto-san. She requests for your presence immediately." A tree was blown up somewhere in the background.

"Fine! You just totally killed the moment." Naruto turned to Hinata, whose cheeks had a few trails of tears, but eyes that held confusion. "Hinata-chan, I think you should go back home. I'll continue this when I get back." She nodded. Naruto turned to Lee. "Let's go." _'Lee, if she thinks that I'm breaking up with her, you are a dead man.'_

The duo raced up to the Hokage's office while Hinata slowly walked back to her home. Unknown to her, a pair of black eyes were watching her. _'So, this is his girlfriend... He's lucky to have the love of a Hyuuga,' _Itachi put on a smile._ 'Time to catch a bird,'_ the peeping Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and appeared in front of Hinata. And in less than a second, she fell.

Naruto walked into the room, not even bothering to knock. "What is it that you want from me, obachan? I'm busy."

"Well, Naruto, it's about your house."

"I stop in the middle of proposing to Hinata-chan to come here as fast as I can, only to be told that something going wrong with my house?" Tsunade's eyes widened.

"You're proposing to Hinata?" Naruto nodded. "Then go and propose to her! I can tell you about your house later!" Naruto gave a small bow and left the room in a hurry.

'_What's wrong with them? They're telling me something about my house when I have more important things to deal with!'_ Naruto ran on the path to Hinata's house, hoping to catch her.

'_Where is she?'_ It must have been the fifth time Naruto had gone through the entire streets of Konoha. He had yet to find Hinata. Slowly, Naruto approached the door to her apartment. _'Maybe she's in here,'_ he opened the door with a key that Hinata gave him. It was empty.

Naruto turned around to catch a kunai that would have embedded itself in the door. Attached to it was a letter. Naruto pulled off the kunai and took the letter. Slowly, with his hands trembling, he opened it. He had a feeling that what was inside the letter was something he didn't want to know.

And he was right.

_Uzumaki,_

_We have Hyuuga Hinata. Come to the Valley of the End in three days time or we will kill her._

_You are to come alone._

Naruto did not need to know who sent the letter. He quickly ran to the Hokage's office.


	19. Revenge: Best Served Cold

ARGH!!! Gomen x 10019238440985029239840!!! I'm so sorry that I could not upload any sooner! I got too busy with playing Halo 1 for PC, which is why it wasn't posted on Friday, and then with the updates on , whichI do not blame, I couldn't upload the chapter! GOMEN!!!

RESPONSE TIME!!!

Irukapooka: I'm sorry, but Gaara has little relevance in this story. His wife will not be making an appearance. If you really care, I'll just give his imaginary wife the name of Yuki.

TFI-Muse: Whats a Nishi-Bishie?

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Revenge: Chill For Better Taste

Naruto was almost at the Hokage's office. _'You are to come alone.'_ That was what the letter read. Naruto frowned. If he brought in reinforcements, then they would kill her without a second thought. He was in a tight spot. He knew he had to do it.

He would tell no one that Hinata had been kidnapped. It would be rather risky, but he had to do it. Then there was also the matter with her possible genin students. He would have to think of something to deal with them by tomorrow.

But now, he had to report to the Hokage to find out what happened to his house. After arriving outside the Hokage Tower, he quickly leapt up through the window, shattering it in the process. Tsunade, hearing the shattering of glass, awoke from her wondrous dream of actually winning a game of poker for once.

"NARUTO! What the hell do you think you're doing, leaping through my window?" Tsunade yelled. "Have you ever heard of something called a door?"

"I don't have the time for this, baachan. I'm in a hurry," Naruto retorted. "What happened to my house?"

"Your house can wait," Tsunade said. "So… how did the proposing go?"

'_Damn it! We're wasting time here! And she's asking how it went?'_ "After you so wonderfully ruined the moment, I decided not to ask her today. She was in a mess. She thought I was breaking up with her."

"Oh… sorry," Tsunade apologized. "Anyway, back to your house."

"What happened to it?"

"You forgot to pay your water bill."

"Oh… I'm pretty sure that I paid for it…" _'Damn it! I know I paid for it!'_ Naruto then grasped a pen from Tsunade's desk and his checkbook. Quickly scribbling the amount owed, he tore off the check and handed it to Tsunade. "That should pay for it." Tsunade noticed that his hand was balled into a fist and that it was trembling.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm fine," Naruto placed the pen back onto her desk, his hand shaking. "I'll be going now." With that, Naruto left the room as calmly as possible.

Tsunade heaved a sigh. Naruto seemed so tense back there. He wasn't this tense when she saw him about an hour ago. Perhaps something happened. She looked at the pen that Naruto signed the check with.

It was bent in the middle. Oh yes, something was bothering him. Tsunade simply waved it away, thinking that he was angry with her for ruining the moment.

Naruto quickly went to his house. He entered his room, flopped onto his bed, and lay there. _'Damn it… of all the times, why now?'_ Naruto buried his face under his hands and heaved a heavy sigh. His thoughts drifted from one scene to another. Each time his mind stopped, it was playing a scene with Hinata and him as the stars of his little show.

Hinata. Hinata, Hinata, Hinata. _'I can't waste my time like this,'_ Naruto thought. _'Who knows what they could be doing to Hinata?'_ Thoughts of the Akatsuki members torturing her for information, killing her, taking out her eyes… Naruto stopped, not wanting to delve deeper into what they could, and probably would, do to her.

'_I have to think of a plan… How am I going to get her back?'_ Plans formulated through his head, and he scrapped each one; every plan he came up with would either end up with either a dead or wounded Hinata, or a dead Naruto, which would lead to a dead Hinata. _'Damn it! This is something that I need Shikamaru for… But I can't tell him about this…'_

Naruto stared at the alarm clock by his bed. Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock… CRASH!!! Naruto viciously threw the taunting chronometer against the wall, smashing it to tiny little pieces. Every second that passed meant one less second to come up with a good plan to get the both of them out of there in one piece.

Naruto instantly regretted what he had done. He now had no way of keeping track of time in his room. He now had to get a new clock, and that would cost money. But most importantly, Hinata gave him that clock. Getting up, he walked to the broken machine. Gingerly, he picked it up. A screw fell and hit the floor, the echo thundering in Naruto's ears. His thoughts drifted to the memory of his first celebrated birthday.

_**Flashback, Five Months Ago**_

Sasuke's feet were silent on the floors in Naruto's house. The rest of the group followed. Slowly, Sasuke was outside of Naruto's door.

Everyone had decided to throw a surprise birthday party for Naruto, in a way welcoming him back to Konoha, except for Chouji, Iruka, and Kakashi; they were on a mission. After gathering at the Ichiraku for their planning, they decided that Naruto needed to be reminded that he had friends who cared.

Sasuke motioned to Neji to tell him to use his Byakuugan. Neji did so, and then gave a thumbs-up signal to Sasuke. Naruto was still sleeping. As Sasuke was about to open the door, Neji stopped him. His Byakuugan eyes widened; Naruto had started to stir in his bed.

Naruto slowly sat up. He took a look at his clock. It wasn't there. He then remembered that he threw it out the window at some cat last night. Lucky for him that it was a Sunday. Otherwise, he would have had to deal with an angry Tsunade, saying that he was becoming like Kakashi.

Naruto took a sniff of air. He smelled eleven people and one dog. He gave off a small smile. They were there, right outside his door. He heard Hinata's soft whisper with his ears.

"Sasuke-san, you may not want to stand by the door…" Hinata said.

"Why not? It's just a regular door, right?" Sasuke whispered back. Naruto instantly smiled.

'_So, they had plans to disturb my sleep?'_ Naruto got up from his bed and leapt to the door, delivering a fierce kick to it. _'I'll make sure he remembers this time.'_

Sasuke forgot that the door to Naruto's room was a swinging door.

Neji simply watched as Naruto kicked the door open, sending Sasuke into the wall across from the room. "Thought that you guys could interrupt my sleep?" Naruto quickly appeared by Neji and gave him a flaming flick, which he had promised Neji months before. He flew a few meters, landed, and rolled a few more meters until he was flat on his back.

"Now let that be a lesson to you guys in case you come up with the guts to do something like that again." Naruto was about to walk back into his roomwhen Hinata piped up.

"Ano, Naruto-kun, we came to take you out for lunch."

"Oh… Well… what's the occasion?"

"Naruto, you baka!" Sakura screamed. "It's your birthday, remember?"

"It is?" Naruto took a look at the calendar. "Oh, you're right…" Naruto looked anxious about what he was about to say. "Um… what about my birthday?"

"Come on! Birthday parties? Presents? Cake?" Sakura asked.

"Well, no one's ever thrown a birthday party for me before. And no one really invited me to one before, so I have no idea what takes place at one."

"Oh…" Sakura replied. She felt bad that she forgot about Naruto's past and how everyone avoided him. Hinata also felt bad too. She had always wanted to invite Naruto to her birthday party. But she could never work up the courage. "Well, in that case, prepare to have a lot of fun today! Get dressed!" At the word of fun, Naruto tossed on some proper clothing after closing the door. He opened it to reveal the black garbs that he always wore.

"So where are we going to?" Naruto asked. But they didn't bother to answer the question. Instead, they tossed a blindfold onto him. "Hey, what's up with this?"

"It's a surprise! We can't let you see what it is, can we?" They slowly pushed, dragged, and guided Naruto out of his house. They led him down the street, slowly guiding him. The townspeople looked at the bizarre occurrence, shrugged their shoulders, and continued to do whatever they were doing.

"Are we there yet?" Naruto enquired.

"No!" Everyone answered. Slowly, they led him to the right. Then they led him to the left after taking a few steps. Naruto was so lost in the thoughts of experiencing his first birthday party, that he did not realize that the four remaining people were leading him in circles. The rest of the group left to get on with their next part of the plan.

An eagle was seen flying through the sky. That was the signal. Slowly, the four leaders led him on top of the Hokage Monument. There was the rest of the group, waiting for them. They took off the blindfold and Naruto was looking off the precipice of the cliff. "Um… I've seen this before guys…"

"We're not done yet." Hinata said, slowly walking up to Naruto. She walked up to him, leant in and gave him a kiss.

"Um… You've kissed me before, too," Naruto commented.

"We're still not done yet," Hinata suddenly put on a mischievous grin.

She pushed Naruto off the edge.

"What the hell?" Naruto said, slowly falling.

Splash. Smiling, Sakura turned off the genjutsu.

'_What the hell is going on?'_ Naruto surfaced in the pool, which wasn't there before. "What was that for?" Naruto frowned. Hinata simply giggled. Everyone then dispelled his or her Henge, revealing everyone in a swimsuit.

"Pool party!!!" Kiba yelled as he jumped in with Akamaru following him. Then everyone jumped in. Naruto no longer wore a frown, but instead slapped on a smile, though he was still confused. Hinata swam to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun." Smiling, Naruto hugged Hinata and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Thanks. But did you guys really have to push me in? I mean, for a moment I thought you guys were trying to kill me."

"Well, it's more fun this way, wouldn't you agree?" Hinata tapped his nose.

"Couldn't you guys have just told me though? Now my clothes are all wet."

"Quit your complaining and enjoy yourself. Your birthday comes along only once a year. Besides, you probably would have jumped in anyway," Sasuke said, surfacing underneath Sakura and flipping her backwards. "We've got a lot of food on the table in case you're hungry." Naruto took note of it and turned back to Hinata.

She was no longer in his embrace. Naruto looked around when he felt something rise up, pushing his feet out from underneath. Naruto fell backwards into the water. Hinata rose from the water, laughing. Naruto stayed underwater, sporting a playful grin. He swam to Hinata, who had her back to him and was too busy laughing at Akamaru to notice. She turned around to notice that he was nowhere in sight.

Naruto pulled her under the water from the back, turned her around, and kissed her.

After a while, everyone got out to eat. The foods there did not originate from Konoha, Naruto noted. There were some things that only came from the Wave Country. Another dish came from the Lightning Village. And it was the same for every dish served on his birthday, down to the cake. And there was the world-famous sake from the Sake Village. From what Naruto heard, countries battled for control over the village, not for power, but for the worlds' best-tasting sake.

Naruto really enjoyed this day. It was fun, and the food was great. The day couldn't have gotten better.

Except that it did.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now. Thanks for the party," Naruto began to leave when Sakura called out to him.

"Hey, you can't leave yet! We still have to give you presents!" At the words of 'give you presents,' Naruto turned around sat back down.

"So what are you going to give me?" Naruto asked. Having never received a birthday present, Naruto was once again confused at the amount of colorful boxes, both large and small.

"We can't tell you," Hinata giggled.

"Then what's the point of getting something if I don't know what it is?"

"You get these!" Ino chirped. She handed him a box wrapped in a yellow box with red dots on it. On the very top, it had a bow with a tag attached, reading 'From: Ino, To: Naruto.' Naruto picked the box up and… and… and…

He stared at the box. "What do I do with this?" Naruto asked.

"You tear of the wrapping paper." Sasuke said, taking a sip of sake. Taking Sasuke's advice, Naruto gingerly removed the wrapper and ended up with a coffee maker.

So far, Naruto received a set of training weights, an ornamental kunai set, a coffee maker, several books, a bonsai tree set, some destruction bugs encased in amber, and a new leather jacket with the kanji for fox on the back. Now all that was left was the small gift from Hinata.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-hic-kun." Naruto gave off a small smile. Apparently, Hinata, though she had very little to drink, was a bit tipsy. She had a faint blush on her cheeks and had a somewhat difficult time walking in a line towards him. Naruto opened the gift to have a clock stare back at him.

It was a regular alarm clock. Not digital, but instead was a normal clock with three hands. In the center, there was an orange fox, sitting and staring back at Naruto. It was grinning its foxy little grin at Naruto, who, in turn, gave it his foxy little grin. "Arigato, Hinata," He stood up and gave Hinata a kiss on the lips, receiving a greater blush from her.

"So, -hic- how was your first birthhicday party?" Hinata asked.

"Wonderful."

_**End Flashback**_

Naruto now stared at the fox on his clock. It still had its foxy little grin on, but now it had a crack reaching from its left ear to its right shoulder. The clock's arms had stopped moving. Time itself had stopped moving.

That was the answer the clock offered to Naruto.

And he gladly accepted it.

'_I'll stop time during the battle and kill off each and every one of them… maybe not Itachi; Sasuke deserves to kill him.'_ Naruto looked at the clock for the time. It read 11:50. Since Naruto threw it at the wall about ten minutes ago, he decided that it was twelve am. He stood up.

'_I'll go now. They're expecting me in three days time. Screw the genins, I'll get Hinata back now.' _Naruto quickly gathered some supplies. He stuffed the kunais into his holster, some food pills into a pouch, and put on his sunglasses. He left the house and quickly ran to the South Gate, leaving no more than a leaf dancing in the wind.

Blood would be spilt, and he would make sure of it.

_**Elsewhere**_

Hinata slowly looked from the ground to where the Akatsuki members were. She noticed that she was tied to a pole jutting from the earth. She felt weak, remembering that Itachi had put her under the Mangekyou Sharingan. "W-Where am I?" she asked out loud.

One of the members walked up to her. He put his finger under her chin and made her stare into his eyes. "You don't need to know."

Hinata then lost consciousness, only remembering the bright blue eyes of the person's face.


	20. Those Damn Mass Murderers

Argh! This chapter came out a little late. I had to make some last minute changes. Once more, thank you for the reviews! We are nearing the end of the story, so enjoy!

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

Onward!

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Chapter Twenty: Those Damn Mass Murderers

The silent patting of feet was heard through the forest. Pit pat pit pat pit pat. Naruto quickly ran towards the Valley of the End. _'I got to get there before they do anything to Hinata-chan!'_ Even though he was already moving faster than most shinobis could, he picked up the pace.

Leaves were trailing in the distance. Naruto ran so fast, that leaves were being plucked off of the trees and slowly flitting down towards the ground. The thought of a clock, slowly ticking down, rang in Naruto's mind. With every tick of the second hand, he felt that a kunai was being brought closer and closer to Hinata's neck.

Speaking of clocks, Naruto remembered that he needed to apologize to Hinata about breaking the clock that she gave her. But he would do that after he saved her.

_**Valley Of The End**_

Blue eyes. Those blue eyes that defined the word blue. Eyes that was bluer than the ocean. That was what Hinata remembered when she woke up. Wearily, she opened her eyes to see that the bright morning sun had risen. She tried to move her body, but she was tied to a pole with chakra-enhanced rope.

Her hands were tied in a way so that she could not make any hand seals. There would be no way that she could get out of this herself. She would need Naruto to save her. She lifted her head up to see her captors stare back at her.

"W-Who are you guys?" Hinata whispered.

"We are the Akatsuki," one of them said. Whoever said it had a calm voice. Hinata looked towards the direction of the sound, only to get a pair of Sharingan eyes.

"Uchiha Itachi?" Hinata hoarsely cried out. The mass murderer simply turned around.

"Be quiet," he harshly said. "We don't have time to answer your questions." Hinata did not listen.

"What do you guys want? And why do you need me?"

"Shut up," Itachi gave her a punch across the cheek. His ring put a cut on her cheek. "We don't have to tell you." Hinata began to think. What could they be after? And why would they use her?

"Naruto-kun… You want Naruto-kun, don't you?" She asked. Itachi and the other members turned to face her. Itachi walked to her. "What do you need him for? And why am I needed? You're strong enough to get him yourself, right?"

"I told you to shut up," he used the back of this hand to slap Hinata's other cheek, putting a cut on it from the ring. "It would be wise for you to listen to me. And no, we are not strong enough to get him ourselves. In fact, not a single one of use could lay a finger on him, even if he did not use his bloodline limits. Only our leader could put up a good fight against him."

"He will come for you," Itachi turned around. "Being the only person who loved him when no one would waste their breath on him, he would do anything to protect you. You of all people should know that."

"You guys are a bunch of cowards, you know that? Just a bunch of cowards! I bet that Sasuke's stronger than you!" Hinata had hit a chord. Itachi spun around and delivered a swift punch to Hinata's gut. She lurched forward and coughed, blood making its way out.

"I warned you to keep your mouth shut," Itachi said once more. He slowly walked away, leaving Hinata gasping for air.

A sudden gust of wind blew. A crackle of electricity was heard and Itachi was screaming. Everyone looked towards the shrieking man.

Naruto had grabbed Itachi by the head and was currently putting him through his lightning torture. Naruto had a look of rage on his face, though his sunglasses hid his eyes.

"Don't EVER even think about touching Hinata-chan!" He held Itachi there in his hand a little longer, relishing the screams. Then he crushed Itachi's skull. He dropped the now dead Itachi on to the floor, blood bubbling from the disgusting wound. Naruto's bloody glove dripped with the Uchiha blood.

"Crap! He's already here!" Naruto heard one of the members yell out. Naruto had arrived a day earlier to surprise them. And it looked like he did a good job of it. Naruto gave off a deadly smile.

After recovering from the initial shock, the rest of the Akatsuki members surrounded Naruto. One of them rapidly began to do hand seals. He took a big breath. "Ninpou: Howling Winds!" the missing nin exhaled a gigantic blast of air. Naruto stuck up his hand to absorb the winds.

But it was the wrong move for Naruto. As soon as the winds reached him, they howled by, pushing Naruto off his feet into a wall. _'Damn it! Right when I think I got it all figured out, it throws another curving shuriken at me!'_

Seeing his vulnerability, the members threw forward their shuriken and did hand seals. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" They cried out. Naruto instantly saw thousands of shurikens head towards him. Changing his glove to the alignment of water, he quickly conjured up an ice wall. Behind it, he did a one-handed seal.

But something felt wrong. He did not feel that time had stopped. He released the wall of ice, letting the shurikens that seemed to have coated it like a pincushion drop to the ground. Immediately, a man with a gigantic, strange-looking sword charged at him and slashed the sword downwards. Naruto sidestepped and had the water around his body freeze into icicles, piercing and killing him instantly. Naruto held nothing back. These missing nins deserved to die. He charged forward.

Changing his glove to red, he summoned the flames to his hand. He brought his right hand through the left chest of one of his victims. Caught up in the flames, he burned and became ashes in mere seconds. Naruto turned to face another member. The member began to do hand seals. Slowly, darkness began to engulf Naruto. But his sunglasses saw through the genjutsu.

Walking up to the shaking missing nin, he stuck up his right hand. He gave a flick to his forehead, this time not holding anything back. The member's head came flying off as the rest of his body fell backwards.

Three members were down. Naruto turned to see that only a few more remained. He quickly disappeared and kicked the head off of one member. Using the fact that they were surprised by his sudden speed, he viciously punched through the heart of another. Now the rest of the Akatsuki members were scared.

Relentlessly, Naruto slaughtered the members. One by one, they fell with a thud on the ground. Only the leader remained. The leader clapped, applauding the effort of the powerful shinobi. The hat he wore hid his face.

"Good, very good, Naruto. As expected of the carrier of the Kyuubi."

"What do you want? And why did you drag Hinata-chan into this?" Naruto demanded. The leader only gave off a chuckle.

"I knew that you would come after her. So we used her."

"You sick bastard, I'll kill you!" Naruto formed the one-handed seal again. But nothing happened.

"You can't stop time here," the leader chuckled.

"And why not?" Naruto spat.

"You never don't know what happens when two Uzumakis fight, do you?"

"Two Uzumakis? But I thought that they were all dead. What's going on?" Naruto said. The leader simply chuckled some more.

"You're not the only Uzumaki here," He threw off his hat and revealed his blue eyes. "I am Uzumaki Keisuke, the murderer of the Uzumaki clan." Naruto stared wide-eyed in horror.

'_This man… he killed all of them? Then…'_ "If you killed all of them, then why am I here? I should not have been born then!" Naruto asked.

"You're mother," Keisuke began, "is my sister. Thus, that makes me your uncle. She had left to go to Konoha a day before the mass murder took place. But the Uzumakis paid allegiance to no village, and the incident went unheard of. Only my sister knew. She stayed in Konoha and married your father, the Yondaime."

"You bastard! You killed everyone in my clan! You took away my relatives! And now, I live alone, thanks to you!" The thought of having possible relatives once again was doused. "What happens when two Uzumakis fight?" Naruto asked.

"When two Uzumakis fight against each other, the bloodline limits we carry are rendered useless. We cannot stop time, and you cannot make explosions with your eyes," Keisuke explained. "That also means that you can't use your glove to help you out here. Oh, and you can't transform into a nine-tailed fox either."

Naruto inwardly cursed. This fight was going to be a lot harder. No bloodline abilities could be used. And that would make this fight a lot harder than his fights with the other Akatsuki members.

But the thought of having kids who would be able to do as much as he could was thought provoking. Would they have Hinata's eyes as well? Perhaps they would. But for now, Naruto had to concentrate on the battle ahead.

"Now, Naruto, Show me how powerful you are." Naruto's uncle got into a battle stance. "Show me whether you are worthy of the name of Uzumaki!"

At that point, Naruto's feelings of loneliness came back to him. Every strand of hatred and anger rose out from the depths of his body. They called out to him.

For every time Naruto was wronged, he would return it ten times over. Whenever Naruto was left to be alone, he would leave them in the dark for ten times longer. Whenever he was hated for what he was, he hated them back ten times stronger. Naruto opened his eyes and selected the scapegoat of all of his pains.

Uzumaki Keisuke would feel pain today. And Naruto planned to torture him until he begged Naruto to kill him. His lips formed a malicious smile.

"Uzumaki Keisuke! Today, you will die!" Naruto charged forward. His feet leaving craters with the amount of force pushed out from them.

With amazing speed, Naruto threw many vicious punches and kicks, only to get them blocked. Naruto leapt back. He did a few hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five Naruto clones were produced and they charged at the Keisuke together.

Smirking, the mass murderer moved faster than Naruto see. Keisuke immediately beat down each and every one of Naruto's clones. When he got to the real Naruto, he gave him a swift punch to the stomach, knocking Naruto off his feet and caused him to roll along on the ground.

Getting the chance to apologize to Hinata seemed to have taken longer than Naruto expected. Slowly, he got up to his feet. _'Incredible… he's even stronger than me! It looks like I'll have to use it…'_

Hinata watched as Naruto gathered chakra into his right hand. Slowly, a rasengan formed in his hands. Naruto then quickly dashed at Keisuke, his rasengan digging a straight line into the earth. "Die!!!" Naruto yelled. He thrust his hand towards his enemy.

"Not good enough, my nephew," Keisuke smirked as he grasped Naruto's wrist, pushed it aside, and delivered a fierce push kick. Slowly, the kick seemed to morph into five legs. They all collided with Naruto's chest, shoving him back ten meters. Naruto slowly picked himself up.

"Don't you dare call me your nephew! You lost that right when you killed everyone!" Naruto screamed out in rage. His uncle simply smirked.

"It appears that I should have just gone to get you myself. Oh well, I guess I won't be needing this girl anymore," Keisuke took out a kunai. Naruto just realized that Keisuke had put himself between him and Hinata. Slowly, Keisuke threw the kunai at his girlfriend.

'_No… Hinata-chan!'_ Naruto ran as fast as he could, but he could not reach or deflect the kunai. _'Damn! I can't stop it! … Well… There's one more option…'_

Hinata braced herself for death. Tears were streaming down her eyes. _'How could I have been so stupid to think that Naruto was breaking up with me? Here he is, putting in everything he has to save me…'_ The knife slowly traveled to her.

'_Now!'_ Naruto thought.

Then, Hinata felt something weird.

The sound of metal slicing flesh was heard.


	21. DoubleEdged Sword Or Is It?

This is it! This is the last chapter of Her Demon, His Angel! Enjoy the last chapter, and thank you for the reviews!

Darak: The control of Kyuubi'spowers is not originally an Uzumaki or Kazara ability. You'll find out later why they still get negated though.

sephynarutocloud: I'm sorry that Icould not make it longer. But hopefully, this chapter will make up for it.

OpposingForce: Thank you for your review. I know that I have a tendendy to rush things, so I'm practicing with that in my other Naruto fic, Encyclopedia Ninja. Also, I feel that Switchfoot is a good band. Whether you will like it or not depends on your taste in music.

A/N: I almost cried when I wrote this chapter. Just a pretense of how saddening it will be (or will it???).

I do not own Naruto or King of Fighters.

And now,onward!The answer to the evil cliffhanger is near!

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Chapter Twenty-One: Double-Edged Sword Or Is It? 

Naruto's face contorted from the in pain. He stood about fifty meters away from where Hinata was tied up at the post. _'Damn… that kunai hit one of my vital organs… and… my chakra… something about it… it seems different…'_

'_I can't heal myself,'_ Naruto concluded. The warmth of his blood was felt through his skin. Naruto winced, taking the pain as best as he could. _'I've got to end this fast! I don't care if it takes my life! I have to do it!'_

Hinata opened one eye. Then another. Slowly, she looked down to where the kunai was lodged in her. Her eyes widened. She had expected pain. She had expected the cold feel of metal slicing into her flesh. She expected coldness to enter her body, and then death.

She did not expect to see a kunai lodged in a piece of black cloth and the skin underneath it.

It was a part of Naruto's jacket, and underneath Naruto's jacket, she concluded, was a piece of Naruto's flesh. It was the strangest sight she had ever seen. Instead of her white shirt, there was a circle of black leather. She looked up to see Naruto with a circle of white cloth on his jacket.

'_He switched body parts with me… I never knew that was possible…'_ Hinata looked down again at her body to see that a poof of smoke had appeared over the black cloth. When the smoke dissipated, she saw that her shirt was once again whole. She looked back at Naruto. The dark cloth and a kunai sticking out of it replaced where the patch of white once resided. _'It's an incomplete Kawarimi.'_

Naruto could not have used a full Kawarimi to save Hinata. Had he done so, he would have compromised his position, putting himself at the mercy of his uncle. Though she would have been freed, Keisuke could have simply killed her without a second thought. Then, it would be a loss for Konoha, losing to of its most valued shinobis in a hostage situation.

Naruto viciously pulled out the kunai. Blood spurted out, scaring Hinata a great deal. "This kunai…" Naruto started, "it's been dipped with some kind of poison. What kind of poison is it, and where did it come from?" Keisuke frowned at his failed attempt to kill Hinata.

"The poison was purposely made by me to keep you from being able to heal yourself with chakra. You can still use jutsus, however," Keisuke shot Naruto a look of sadness. "I didn't mean to hit you at one of your vital spots…" Keisuke sighed. "But, that is a rather interesting concept, using an incomplete Kawarimi to save your girlfriend here."

"Shut up! I don't want any of your damn pity! You want to know why I don't want it? Because you're a mass murder and because I'm still going to kill you, whether I have the strength in me or not!" Naruto then threw the kunai at Keisuke, who dodged to the side. Naruto charged, though slower than how he was before. _'Damn it! I'm slowly getting weaker… It's all or nothing now! I just wish I didn't have to use it, but it's my only option left… Jiraiya-sensei… thank you for teaching me that technique a month ago… and about telling me a bit more about my father.'_

"Give up, Naruto. You're going to die, whether you like it or not." Keisuke said to his nephew. He gave a light punch to Naruto's stomach. He fell to his knees in pain. The Uzumaki avenger clutched his stomach where his uncle had hit him. Slowly, his hands moved. "You'll never take your place as one of the Hokage, because you're going to die here. No one is going to know about the story of how you died or how poor little Hinata-chan died. It will all remain a mystery as to how all of the shinobis here died today."

"Shut up! I cannot and will not give up! I already accepted the fact that I will not become Hokage. I threw away that dream when I came here to bring back Hinata-chan and got hit by that poisoned kunai!" Naruto yelled. Hinata's head drooped down in sadness. He even gave up his dream for her. Naruto loved her that much.

"But I am glad that I came here. I am happy to know that Hinata-chan will live another day. I am happy to know that I will die to keep her safe." Naruto slowly stood up. "And I am glad to know that you're going to die here with me!" Naruto quickly grabbed the shoulders of his uncle. _'I have to do it. Any later and I may not be able to pull it off… I have to do it now for Hinata-chan…'_

'_Here goes nothing,'_ "Shiki Fuujin!"

Hinata's face had shape shifted into one of shock. _'No… Naruto-kun's not going to do that… Oh God, he is!'_ Tears started to trickle down her eyes. "No! Don't do it, Naruto-kun! Please, whatever you do, don't do that one! I'm not worth it!" She struggled against the ropes that bound her to the spot. She tried to push the ropes away with chakra, but she failed.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan, but I will do whatever it takes to make sure that you're safe and no harm falls unto you," Naruto said. "One is truly strong when he finds someone to protect." He turned to face Hinata, who was still fifty meters away from him. "And to me, you are that someone, and I will do everything in my ability to protect my precious person! You are worth everything to me!"

Keisuke simply watched a man who had nothing to lose smile back at him. The mass murderer was at a loss. "W-What is this?" Naruto smiled a smile. No, it was not a just any smile. It was a smile that only a man who had nothing to lose would smile. It was dark. It was scary. It was psychotic. "What are you planning to do?" he tried to push Naruto away with his arms, but for some reason, he could not.

The smile Naruto wore… It was the smile of a madman.

No…

It was a smile of a demon. A very angry, vengeful demon.

But it was a demon in love.

"This jutsu will take your soul along with mine into the stomach of the Death God, where we shall face each other in eternal combat!" Naruto still wore the demonic smile. Slowly, the Death God's hand reached into Keisuke's stomach through Naruto's stomach and slowly dragged his uncle's soul out. It stopped halfway.

'_Damn it! I can't take it all out of him yet… But… I have to do this!'_ Slowly, Keisuke's soul continued to leave his body.

"No! You can't do this!" Keisuke did his best to punch Naruto, but he found out that his arms still did not function properly. Instead, they only flailed around at his sides, remaining useless. He tried to kick Naruto, but he couldn't get enough force behind it to make Naruto let go. He could not lift it high enough to hit Naruto either. "You realize that if you kill me, then there will be no one to carry on the Uzumaki Bloodline, ne? What would it be like for the world to have one less bloodline?"

Naruto smiled a strange smile. Perhaps it was because his eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses that Keisuke could not see the raw hatred and anger flowing out of them. "I wish I did not have to end such a bloodline as ours. But if I must, then I will." Naruto took one last look at Hinata. _'For you, Hinata-chan.'_ Keisuke's soul had been pulled into Naruto's stomach.

"Seal!" the Kyuubi vessel cried out. Slowly, Keisuke fell to the ground, lifeless, heartless, and soulless. Naruto gave off his last foxy grin and closed his eyes. He felt calm, knowing that Hinata would be safe from harm. No one from this godforsaken association would ever hurt her again. His hand reached into his pocket for the box with the ring inside it and gave it one last squeeze. He wanted to burn the feeling of the box in his hands, making sure that the memory would never leave him.

And then he held onto the box like his life depended on it.

Slowly, the ropes unbound themselves from around Hinata. Tears were meandering down her cheeks. She vigorously shook off the rest of the ropes and ran to Naruto.

'_Hinata-chan… I never got to say this to you…'_ His body was beginning to feel cold. He could feel his neck droop down.

Hinata tripped and fell over a rock. Staggering, she quickly got up and continued to run towards him.

'_I was a fool to not say this earlier…'_ He was starting to go numb in his limbs.

The tears became a river on her cheeks. Falling like silver raindrops from the sky, the gracefully landed on the ground, splashing and seeping into the ground, disappearing forever.

'_But Hinata-chan… I will never forget you because…'_ The numbing feeling came ever closer to his chest.

She was at the halfway point. The salty tears caused the wounds on her delicate face to sear in pain. But she continued to run, ignoring the pain and only focusing on the goal at hand.

'_I…'_

The distance gap was slowly closing. Hinata pushed herself to move every bit faster.

'_Love…'_

Hinata was only ten meters away now.

'_You…'_

Naruto's body slowly began to tilt and fall. Hinata had managed to catch his body in time. She slowly set him on the ground and put her ear to his chest. He was still warm. His heartbeat began to be weaker and farther in between until _'No…'_ it stopped.

'_Like father… like son…'_ These were the last thoughts of Uzumaki Naruto as his soul left his body to join his mother and father. _'I'll… see you soon… Otou-san… Okaa-san…'_ Naruto's smile froze in place.

She activated a healing jutsu and began to heal the wound that Naruto had earned for putting her safety above his, effectively healing and closing the wound and purging the poison from his body.

She listened to his heart once more. There was still no sound. "No…" the tears started to well up in her eyes. "No!!!" she screamed, the tears fell from her white eyes, dampening the leather jacket. "Don't leave me, Naruto-kun!" she clenched her eyes shut. She opened them again. She looked at the arm in Naruto's pocket.

She took his arm out of his pocket. She noticed that he was clenching something. She pried the box from Naruto's dead hands and opened it. "No…" it was a diamond engagement ring. On the inside of the ring band, it said 'Hinata And Naruto Forever.' She let the tears flow from her eyes, now letting them soak the leather jacket. She closed the box and put it back into his hands, unable to look at it. It reminded her too much about Naruto.

"Why? Why is it that as soon as the man I love returns, he is taken away?" Hinata cried out in anguish. "Why?" She buried her face in his chest, groping for that tiny bit of warmth escaping from his body.

Hinata gently looked up at Naruto and stroked his cheek. _'Naruto-kun… he would say that there was another way around it… He would not give up, not even against all odds. And with that willpower, no, that Spirit of Fire, he would somehow live through and prevail.'_ And now, Hinata had become Naruto, continually saying, in her head, that there was another way around it. There was another way around this barrier of death. There had to be a way to defy all odds like Naruto had done.

And indeed there was.

Thinking back to when she had read the scroll her father had given to her, she quickly did her best to recall what she read. _'Okay… the seals… Ox… Monkey… Crane… Boar… Angel!'_ "Revive no jutsu!" Hinata cried, hoping, wishing, praying that whatever god was out there would hear her cries and grant her request.

Nothing happened.

Hinata tried again, pouring her heart and soul into the jutsu that she believed would bring Naruto back.

Still, nothing happened.

'_Damn it! I'm doing something wrong here!'_ Hinata thought back to the scroll once more. What else was on it? Had she missed something? What key ingredient had she forgotten to put in? Where was the key to unlocking the door that separated her from Naruto?

Yes, she forgot something.

She found the key. Quickly, Hinata bit her thumb and restarted the seal sequence, ending once more in angel. "Revive no jutsu!" the blood disappeared from her thumb.

Nothing happened. Hinata wailed in defeat. _'There is no way I can bring him back… Naruto-kun… Goodbye…'_ Hinata sobbed and sobbed.

"Child…" A voice called out, "what are you crying over?" Hinata looked up. The strange man wore a white cloak and had long teeth. He had a string of beads in one of his hands and his skin was purple. He had white hair that flowed everywhere and he was about seven feet tall.

Hinata found out that she was face to face with the God of Death. She had recognized him from drawings in the library of the Hyuuga household. "Naruto-kun… he's dead… and I want to bring him back so that I may love him. He has never truly known his mother or father, and he has never been in an intimate relationship with someone. I was hoping… that I could have been that someone that would have that kind of relationship with him. I want to share my life with him…" Tears ambled down her cheeks.

"Very well," the God of Death replied, "But in order for me to give life back to the man that you love, you must first give me something in return. Now I want you to think: how much is this Naruto worth to you? Who is he that you would use this technique, a highly forbidden one, to ask for his life back?"

"He is the only thing I live for! Without him, I feel like I cannot live on! I love him so much that… that it hurts!" Hinata answered, tears overrunning her eyelids.

The God of Death smiled. "Then what are you willing to give in return for this man's life?"

"I am willing to give up my eyes, my money, my earthly things… my life… I will offer my life to you if you return Naruto-kun to me!"

"Very well. However, you may only use this jutsu once. Are you sure that you want to use it to save Naruto?" the God of Death questioned her again.

"Of course! I want to hold him in my arms and hold him! I want him to be happy…" Hinata trailed off. These questions were starting to push her to her limits.

"All right then, take this knife," the God of Death said, "and slash your wrist." The deity hurled a knife at Hinata's feet. She quickly grabbed it and, without a second thought, slashed her wrist.

The blood sprayed everywhere. _'This is it… I'm going to die so that you may have life, Naruto-kun…'_ The blood seemed to slow down to Hinata. The first droplet of blood was about to splatter onto Naruto's leather jacket. The blood slowed down even more until it was only millimeters away from his jacket.

Hinata now knew that she had not been seeing things slow down. All of the blood that was spilled from her wrist began to work its way back to her wrist, leaving no sign of there being any blood coming from her. It reentered her bloodstream and then the wound healed itself; there was no scar.

"Very good… You are of a pure heart…" Hinata heard a chuckle from the God of Death. She looked around only to see that the knife in her hand was gone and so was the deity who gave it to her. "Many do not know this… but I am also the God of Mercy. You have my blessings, child…" The voice faded away.

Somewhere in the Spiritual Realm, the God of Mercy was smiling.

_**Five Years Later**_

He was at the graves. Looking over at two headstones with familiar pictures, he heaved a sigh. The one on the left read as follows.

'_Here lies Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha. He died of old age.'_

The man looked at the one on the right.

'_Here lies Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha and the Gondaime Hokage. She died of old age.'_

The man sighed. Both of the Legendary Sannins of Konoha died within the last two years. Of course, Orochimaru was also one of the Sannins, but he was hated by Konoha and was cast aside like a broken kunai. He would have continued his silent mourning had a shinobi not appeared out of thin air.

"Sir, it's time. Her contractions has begun," the shinobi said.

The man was surprised, and then nodded. "Let's go." They took off at full speed to the Konoha Hospital.

"Ah, you're here!" the nurse said.

"Miss," he began, "How long do you think it will take?"

"I do not know, sir."

_**Twelve Hours Later**_

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

SMASH!!!!!

It was the waiting room. A man dressed in robes was pacing around. Droplets of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead. The nurse looked at him.

"Rokudaime-sama, please do not destroy our clocks. They are rather expensive and difficult to replace. Do you know how hard it is to find clocks like these? And to think that you destroy your alarm clocks at a daily basis." That was not a rumor, but a fact. The Hokage didn't seem to mind, though.

The Rokudaime gave her a weak smile. "Sorry, I'll pay for it later." Apparently, the Sixth Hokage had thrown a kunai at the taunting clock. Every second that passed was another moment of worry for the current Hokage and his wife.

"How much longer do you think it would take?" the Rokudaime asked.

"She should be done soon." As soon as the nurse said that, a doctor came in with a large smile.

"Hokage-sama," the doctor began, "she is in perfect health. You may see your wife." With that, the Hokage sped off.

Then he sped back. "Eh… what room is she in?" he was scratching the back of his head.

"Room 316, Hokage-sama."

"Arigato." He sped off and entered his lover's room. He wore a gigantic smile on his face as he walked into see his wife. She smiled back at him. "How are the babies?" the Hokage saw the three little babies wrapped in blankets, two in blue, one in pink. They were asleep.

"They're angels…" his wife said. "They've got your eyes, Naruto-kun, you're lovely eyes. They've got your glove too. But they have only a red, blue, and yellow one. Oh, and they've got that seal on them, too." Naruto's wife said. The Rokudaime gave off a smile.

"Triplets, eh?" Naruto said, smiling. "Well," the Rokudaime looked at the girl in the pink blanket, "that one has your hair, Hinata-chan." Naruto bent down and gave Hinata a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

Ending Stats: 111 pages long, 46,774 words, and 69 days have passed since the posting of Chapter One. 


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